


Laxis the Non-Jedi

by MasterOfFools



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Jedi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2020-12-27 14:31:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 88,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21120335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MasterOfFools/pseuds/MasterOfFools
Summary: Laxis Skywalker is the older brother of Anakin Skylwalker. He is protective of his little brother and will do anything for his family. More Mature and Strong in the Force, will he change the future we all know? Most importantly will it be for the better?





	1. Chapter 1

Laxis never knew what freedom looked like.

He and his brother had been slaves since birth. Their mother had been a slave since her childhood. Each night he would look out at the stars imagining what it would be like to fly among them- together with his brother.

He and Anakin were close knit, as all brothers should be in his opinion. They supported each other, helped each other and protected his other. Anakin watching Laxis’s back and Laxis watching his. They had been doing this for years, ever since they started working for Watto.

To be fair Watto was a much better owner than Gardulla. Privately, Laxis though that there was a chance that Watto cared for the-

**“_Laxissss_** _…, get in here quick before I force you too!”_

Or maybe he didn’t.

Laxos sighed slightly, a fond smile resting on his face. Watto was an acquired taste, he had his good and bad moments. Although they were mostly bad.

“_Laxisss, now!”_

_“Coming!” _

Laxis started jogging towards the storefront, it was a hot day today, even for Tatooine. He had heard a few crewmen of one of the ships in port complaining about the heat. One of them even started wishing for some snow to take the heat away.

Snow… He had heard of it multiple times before, he wondered what it looked like, felt like. One day he would find out he promised himself. One day. Just like he would one day see rain, feel it patter on him as he stood there soaking in the precious water.

He quickly reached the door to the main building, opening it slowly as he didn’t want to fix the door again. It had been breaking down for months now, Laxis hoped that Watto would soon decide to buy a new one, or make Anakin build one from scrap metal. He would like the task, he had gotten pretty good at building these past years. Especially since he started to build that droid of his. Laxis had begged Anakin to call it Op Talkalot- short for Operation Talks A Lot. Anakin didn’t find it funny, especially since Laxis privately thought that he had based C-3PO on his own personality. A fitting match, a chatterbox robot for a chatterbox boy.

Immediately after he entered the building he sighed in relief. Air coolers were spread out everywhere, Watto played it off as providing for customers, but Laxis knew he did it for himself. Even he couldn’t take the heat.

_“Hey Lax”_

Laxis grinned as he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

_“Anakin!” _He shouted will turning around quickly, _“When did you come back. I thought Watto sent you to Nist.”_

His brother stood before grinning in his own unique way. His blond hair fell across his blue eyes, similar to Lax’s blue eyes- their Mom was going to have to cut it soon-and he was fidgeting with a vibrospanner, as always.

Anakin quickly came walking towards, “The store’s closed.” He said while hugging him. “Something came up that Nist had to deal with.”

“So, your finally done there!”

Anakin raised an eyebrow, acting as if he had been insulted, “Finally?”

Laxis replied with a mocking smirk, ”Yep, I can see you got slower at fixing droids”

He quickly jumped backwards, dodging Anakin’s answering punch. He grabbed Anakin’s outstretched arms pulling it towards him. Anakin hadn’t been expecting it. He offered no resistance due to his surprise, stumbling forwards uncontrollably as Laxis pulled him.

Laxis twisted around, holding Anakin’s arm tight. He used Anakin’s momentum against him. He pulled the arm again, angling himself to throw Anakin over his hip. Anakin soared past him, allowing him enough time to pull Anakin back slightly so that he wouldn’t hurt him.

“Aghh!”, Anakin shouted out in pain.

Well… too much.

Laxis ignored it quickly moving to pin him down.

“I give in… I give in Lax!”, Anakin breathed out with a loud gasp.

Laxis grinned triumphantly, standing up, while mockingly saying, “A win for me…again”

Anakin groaned out, “It’s unfair, your six years older than me.”

Laxis raised his eyebrow, “Hey, I was fighting 15-year olds at your age. It’s not unfair. You just suck at fighting.” While he was talking, he leaned forward too help Anakin up. “Anyway, just to remind you, you really should stop with the reckless punching. This is the fifth time I used that move on y- “

Just as he was about to help Anakin up, Anakin grabbed onto his outstretched arm and pulled him down. Laxis lost his balance, surprise marring his face as he fell to the ground. With a loud thump he hit the ground knocking the air out of him.

“Hahaha!”, Anakin laughed out, quickly scrambling up and standing a few feet away. All the while laughing as he did so.

“You-tot-totally fell fo-for that. Your fac- your face when you were falling. That mad- made my da-“

Anakin broke down before he could finish talking. He rolled on the floor, laughing his heart out.

Laxis rose and slowly started walking towards Anakin, menacingly. He approached Anakin with an expressionless face and a slow gait; his little brother quickly paled in fear and started to back away.

“Look, Lax, I’m so-“

Laxis lunged forward, a smile spreading across his face, grabbing hold of Anakin and started tickling his sides.

“You think you can do that to your older brother huh?”

Anakin started laughing out, trying to gasp out words of apology, but he couldn’t, he was laughing too much to do that. Laxis took mercy on his little brother, letting go of him and taking a step backward.

“Well consider me impressed, that’s the first time you actually managed to get me on the floor”, Laxis said with humour in his voice.

Anakin straightened and replied with a proud, “Thanks, I just saw the chance and I took it”

He started sanding himself off, a futile exercise as Laxis had never seen a person with no sand somewhere on Tatooine. The stuff got literally everywhere.

_“What’s happening out here?”_, asked a voice that rose from behind the curved table at the opposite end of the room.

Laxis shrugged his shoulders, turning around to face the speaker.,_ “Nothing much Watto, just greeting Ani. I haven’t seen him for a few days.”_

_“I’ll act like I didn’t see what just happened then”_, answered Watto in a sarcastic, well what Laxis thought was a sarcastic, tone. Watto was waiting at the desk looking at one of the newest parts the junkyard had. Watto thought it was worth something, but he treated pricing as an art, and took forever to decide on a price.

Laxis and Anakin both laughed at this, they had a nice relationship with Watto, barring the master and slave part of course. He treated them nicely and in turn they worked hard for him, sometimes he would turn a blind eye to their fun as well.

Watto continued, _“There’s a Togruta here Laxis, has a problem with her speeder, I need you to fix it.”_

Laxis shrugged in acceptance, _”Yip, should be quick, did she mention any specific problems?”_

_“I think she said something about the repulsor lift engines.”_

Laxis nodded and walked out towards the front. As soon as he exited, he immediately wanted to go back in. The heat was almost unbearable, even for him and he had lived here for his entire lives. The twin suns of Tatooine were high in the sky, bearing down on the unceasingly, yet there was a singular cloud. A cloud on a desert planet. A thing made of water on a planet devoid of water.

Laxis had a premonition, today was a day of change; a day of mystery. Something was going to happen today… and a sandstorm was going to come in today. Lax could already see the signs with the trained eye of a Tatooine resident. The increased wind, the sand flying about in small patches.

Lax hoped that they could get home before the storm. It was a dangerous time to be out, many people had disappeared in the storms, some of them had been Lax’s friends. Most of them had been slaves, sent out to do their master’s bidding. Lax was happy that Watto wasn’t like that.

He quickly found the Togruta that he was supposed to help. The Togruta had one purple coloured tentacle and another completely green one, either a fashion statement or a genetic problem. Either way Lax found it weirdly interesting. Togrutas were famously self-conscious of their tentacles. Lax couldn’t remember correctly but it was like their status was shown through the tentacles, and this was the first time that he had seen a completely singular colour tentacle.

As he was approaching the Togruta, she seemed to notice him.

_“Are you the worker?” _she asked him. Huttese was the common work language around here. Although he noticed that she had a strange accent to her, a small tilt. One that he immediately recognised, a voice-changer. The Togruta was hiding from someone and didn’t want to be recognised. So the coloured tentacles may be fake.

_“Yes”, _he replied.

_“Well, follow me. The repulsor engines are breaking down. They need to be fixed.”_

Lax quietly followed her, she was a person in a hurry and these people were usually the ones that gave something to the slave if they worked hard. He needed the money, he, Ani and their Mom needed the money; it was to buy their freedom. They had been saving for years.

They quickly reached one of the rented garages a distance away from Watto’s junkyard. This was a popular spot as many mechanics offered repair services to anyone that paid. This place was especially popular as each garage was in a warehouse that was sound-proofed, and it was popular behaviour to ignore any deaths. Looters came by each night to strip any bodies and rarely did a bay stay damaged for long. Compact sand was easy to make and was used for building here, and sand was never in short supply. This was a service offered by Jabba to increase his reputation and support.

Inside was the speeder and a couple of storage boxes. The Togruta went to sit on one of the boxes next to the wall, laying her blaster and durasteel knife on the box next to her.

_“Quickly fix the speeder and I’ll pay you extra, but do not look in the boxes. Or else you get nothing.”_

Lax replied quickly not willing to miss the opportunity, _“Yip.” _He didn’t know when he started saying that word, but he quickly grew to almost exclusively use it, as Ani did, it was something they shared; something they owned. So, it was special to them and Lax never needed to change it. It irritated the kriff out of Watto and he complained almost every time he heard it, but that only reinforced Lax and Ani’s desire to use it.

He started working on the engines, first looking for the problems that had occurred. He dismantled it first, looking for any faulty parts. That part’s okay, repulsors are fine… there!

The power cell holder. It had been hit by something and if Lax didn’t see wrongly… it was blaster fire.

He had seen these marks before, people were shot left and right on Tatooine, especially here in Mos Eisley. If it weren’t for the people that kept on traveling here the population may have been close to a specific number called zero. Well, he had to admit, those people were one of the main reasons why so many people died here. Right next to the Tuscans and slavery. He idly wondered if they were going to make a national sport of killing people soon, Jabba would like it.

He shook those thoughts of, he had a job to do and then he could go back before the sandstorm hit. However, the foreboding feeling would just not go away. He hoped that he was just imagining it… but it felt so real.

Time passed quickly as he worked, disassembling the whole engine to get to the holder. The shot that hit it must have been by complete luck, there was only a small gap to the holder through the engine, the accuracy of the shooter would have to be impossibly high to have deliberately aimed at it.

From behind he heard the Togruta ask as she approached him, _“Are you almost finished?”_

Lax glanced backwards, _“Only a few more minutes.”_

The Togruta looked at her holoclock intensely, _“Faste,r”, _she muttered loudly, _“They are almost here!”_

Lax looked at her confusedly, _“Wha-“_

**Boom**

The wall behind them exploded, sending rubble across the room. Lax and the Togruta were lifted by the force of the explosion and slammed against the opposite wall.

Lax’s breath got knocked out of him, black spots were dancing across his vision, there was a high-pitched hum in his ears. There was an acrid smell in the air.

Detonite.

The explosion had been caused by detonite, one of the most common explosives used in the galaxy. Lax had smelt it before. Many pieces were sold in cantinas around Mos Eisley and he had longed been accustomed to the acrid smell.

Through the black spots he saw a figure walking through the rubble and smoke. It had a head that looked a lot like a lizard, with beady eyes and skin that looked like it has scales on it. It had a cloak hood on covering most of it, except the nose and mouth that extended outwards prominently.

A Kaleesh. It had an eyepatch across one of its eyes and it wore a dewback leather jacket, many in Tatooine wore it.

Especially…bounty hunters.

To reinforce the fact, a multitude of weapons was present on his body. A blaster at his hip, a few thermal detonators as well. Lax even saw a knife, strapped to the outside of his thigh. He also had some sort of tube on his back.

Lax instantly understood what was going on, this Kaleesh was a bounty hunter after the Togruta. No wonder that she said that ‘they were coming’. The worst part was, no-one would have heard the explosion or cared about the building sharking slightly.

He struggled to slowly pull himself up into a sitting position. Somehow, he was uninjured, with only a few scratches where the rubble had hit him. He managed to rest his back on the wall just as the Kaleesh reached the Togruta.

The Kaleesh crouched down, slowly, serpent like, hissing into her ear, _“Miks Lasa, how… excellent too see you again.”_

The Togruta, Miks, struggled to also sit up, but as she tried Lax saw a sickening sight on her stomach. There was a glaring piece of duraconcrete sticking out of her stomach, she wouldn’t survive without treatment from a bacta tank, and the way that Lax saw this going she wasn’t going to easily get that treatment.

Even though she was pouring blood from her she managed to summon enough strength to spit some blood into the Kaleesh’s face.

The Kaleesh didn’t even try to dodge, instead letting it hit his face. He didn’t even flinch. Lax knew what that meant.

This bounty hunter had killed a lot of people before and was obsessed with killing. Lax also remembered that the Kaleesh were well known for their lack of mercy. He had a rising feeling that he was not going to be left alone by this bounty hunter even if he promised not to say anything.

The bounty hunters had a saying after all.

“No loose ends.”

Lax waited to gain more strength and regain more of his hearing and vision, watching the bounty hunter intently.

The Kaleesh just made an odd grunting noise in response to Miks spitting in his face. Lax horrifiedly realised that he was laughing.

The Kaleesh just stood up, _“Well at least you have some spirit. Good. Means I can get some satisfaction from this kill.”, _He slowly started circling Miks, as if a predator watching his prey, _“Did you really think you could escape? You’re lucky that kriffing Trandoshan, Bossk, wanted to play with his food. It let you live longer after all. Instead of shooting you, he only shot your fuel cell holder But he ain’t here now and so, that means I decide what to do...” _He trailed off slightly, as if wondering what to do.

Lax was shocked as he realised that the bounty hunter was saying that his partner, this Bossk, managed to shoot a fuel cell holder through a tiny gap in the engine. A shot which Lax thought was almost impossible.

The Kaleesh continued, starting to take out the long tube on his back, _“Feel honoured that you managed to even take the gem from us. It’s worth a few million credits after all.”_ He stood above the dying Miks raising the tube above him in a downward double grip. _“And you are honoured to die at the hands of…“_

He plunged the tube downwards, shouting out, at the same time as end of the tube expanded, becoming longer… and sharper, “**Inflier Grievious**!”

It had turned into a knife, made from some metal he had never seen before. In an instant the knife struck Miks in her chest. Blood spurted out, splattering all over Grievious’s cloak. Freezing her in a position of agony, her eyes bulging,

As Lax watched he realised something horrific. The knife was absorbing something. Streaks of red were being absorbed by the knife. It was Miks blood. Her body slowly withered before his eyes, turning shrivelled and dehydrated, until only a husk was left over.

Lax was frozen in horror, watching the knife in some sort of daze, what type of weapon was that. It looked so sinister and it felt like it was encroached by a feeling of darkness. He felt sick, maybe from the horrific sight or the feeling of darkness, or maybe both, but as Grievious turned towards him, wrenching the knife out of Miks’ body, he knew what was going to happen.

He was next.

He quickly stood up, the black spots disappearing at the same time.

Grievious smiled sinisterly as he slowly approached Lax, ignoring the blood splatter on his cloak and face, saying languidly, _“I would say that I’m sorry for having to kill you, but I’m really not and I do not like wasting my energy on things like that. I’m much more interested in how I’ll kill you instead.”,_ he paused hallway, as if contemplating, until a malicious smirk spread across his face, _“How about with my bare hands!”_

The hunter suddenly lunged at him, catching him by surprise, arms stretched forward to grab onto Lax’s neck and strangle him.

Lax dodged towards the side unconsciously, stumbling slightly over a box. He quickly turned to face the hunter, alert and ready to dodge again. He looked around for something, anything that could help him. He grabbed a pipe from the repulsor engine next to him and prepared to use it as a club. At the same time, he tried to survey the room.

He was close to the corner of the room. To his right it was the lift with speeder on it in the centre of the room and to in front of him stood the bounty hunter. On the opposite side of the speeder the broken wall stood, a chance for him to escape.

Grievious smirked, excitedly saying, _“Well at least you’ll make this more exciting for me. I thought I would have to settle with only killing a person who wouldn’t try to fight back. Almost reminds me of back home”, _However, the hunter sighed, almost pleadingly saying, _“Don’t try to escape or I'll have to shoot you then. Its less… exciting for me.”_

Lax paled slightly at the threat, letting down his guard for a short moment.

Grievious capitalised on the opportunity, lunging at Lax. Lax tried to dodge to the side, but he was too slow. Grievious slammed into him, shoving him to the ground, the pipe falling from his grip.

Lax hit the ground hard, but managed too roll away, using the momentum of the hit to get farther away from Grievious. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach, he winced as he saw the blood splattered knife in Grievious’s hand.

Grievious barked out in laughter, _“Smart kid, but you didn’t exactly help yourself. Now did you?”_

Lax realised where he was as he scrambled to stand up. Ignoring the pain in his stomach. He was backed into a corner, with no way to escape.

Grievious approached slowly, pressuring Lax with his very presence. The malignant glint in his eyes only growing stronger.

Lax was panicking, he looked for any escape route that he could find, fear was consuming him. He was growing angry, angry at himself, angry at his slavery, angry at being stabbed and dying so soon when he was close to getting free. He was filled with anger.

But just as he was about to launch himself at Grievious for one final desperate, fear-fuelled, attempt at escaping he remembered, Anakin and their Mom were relying on him. Without him it would take much longer to free themselves. Without him, who would protect Ani from anyone that wanted to hurt him, without him, he and Anakin would never be able to travel the stars.

He calmed down, focused, the pain slowly disappeared, just as Grievious launched himself at Lax again. Time slowed down. Lax saw in perfect detail how Grievious was charging at him. He started moving to the right of Grievious while twisting and ducking at the same time and swinging his right arm at Grievious. It almost felt like he wasn’t in control of his body. Something was controlling him, protecting him.

Time sped up. Lax ducked underneath Grievious’s outstretched right arm. As he came up behind Grievious he hit him on the back with enough force to shove him against the wall.

Lax took the opportunity and ran for the damaged wall. He ran straight to the lift that held the speeder up and slid using the board that he laid on, to slide underneath the speeder. On the other side he sprang back up on to his feet in a smooth motion, running towards the hall.

He felt a sudden sense of danger at the same time. He threw himself to the side, dodging the blaster fire by an inch, landing on the boxes that Miks had sat on earlier. Knocking them over.

He quickly picked himself up and as he rose to a crouch, he twisted around to face Grievious at the same time.

Grievious was running at him with his knife in one hand and his blaster in the other.

Lax quickly fumbled around looking for something, he grabbed onto a hilt and some sand. Miks’ knife! He finally had a real weapon.

As Grievious came rushing closer, time slowed time again. Something was calling him, telling him what to do, that he should focus and survive.

Lax listened and focused. He lunged forward catching Grievious by surprise if his slightly widened eyes were any indication. Grevious’s blaster rose in slow motion, seeming to take forever, but just as Grievious was about to pull the trigger, Lax threw the handful of sand at him.

It worked. Grievious missed his shot as the sand entered his eyes and he flailed his arms. Lax took the opening. He kept moving forward, ducking under Grievious’s flailing arms, even though the knife still managed to cut his cheek. and rose as quickly as he could with the knife pointed upward.

The knife entered the bottom of Grievious’s head, spearing his forked tongue to the top of his mouth and entering the brain.

Grievious froze, eyes bulging outwards, oddly reminiscent of Miks earlier. He slowly fell to his knees, gasping and as the light left his eyes, he fell forward to lie spread eagled on the floor.

Lax also fell to his knees, calming his frantically beating heart. He looked at Grievious dead body and for the first time fully realised what had just happened. He started laughing deliriously.

He shouted out in pure joy, “**I survived! I did it!**”, He whooped in joy till he immediately stopped when he again felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He looked down. It was bleeding, not too heavily, but still heavy enough to be dangerous. Lax ripped of a strip of his tunic and managed to bandage it.

This had not been the first time that he had been attacked or stabbed. He had once jumped in front of a knife aimed at Ani, when he was being robbed. Crime was rife in this city, everyone had been attacked at least once in their life.

He stumbled towards Grievious’s body, intent on searching it for something he could sell. As he crouched down over him, he wrinkled his nose at the disgusting smell emanating from him. Blood covered Grievious, both Miks’ and Grievious’s own blood.

Lax managed to find another blaster, knife and a few credits and peggats, the currency of Tatooine. He also took the knife that was again in the shape of a tube. It must be worth a lot, or at the least no more killers could have this knife. He found nothing else of much worth, except for a holopad. It contained information about the bounty on Miks, and it mentioned that the main target was a gem that Miks had.

Lax remembered Grievious talking about a gem worth millions of credits.

He instantly gained a hope. A hope that he could find the gem, a hope that he would be able to sell it and buy his family’s freedom.

He searched everywhere for it, in the boxes, and while many of them had things worth a few peggats, there was no sign of the gem. He checked Miks body as well, finding nothing but some money. After a few minutes, he slowly started losing hope he would find it. None of the things here he could take, otherwise Watto might get suspicious. The bodies and boxes would be looted within a day as well. No evidence would exist. He also needed to get medical attention. He was ignoring the injury for now, but if he fell unconscious here, he would be as good as dead.

As Lax was about to leave, when he realised that he had forgotten his vibrospanner next to the speeder. He turned to go back to the speeder.

As he was picking up the spanner, he froze. The feeling was back, as before, he felt as if something was calling out to him, somewhere in the speeder.

Lax couldn’t hold back his curiosity and leaned to take the speeder apart more. As he disassembled It further the feeling grew stronger. He searched the speeder for what was calling to him and… there!.

“I finally found you!”, it was a thin, strange, box hidden next to the power coils, where even if someone was looking straight at the coils it would still be hard to find.

Finally, he held the strange box in his hand. He was desperately hoping for it to be what he was wishing for.

With a trembling hand he slowly opened the box. When he saw what was inside his eyes lit up.

Inside it was a sapphire, but even he could tell it was special. It had a very light glow to it, almost seemingly mystical. The sapphire gave him a feeling of comfort and warmth. It reminded him of his mother’s gentle, soothing. touch. It made him feel at home.

He was immediately entranced with it, gazing at it in a daze. He couldn’t stop looking at it. It felt so profound to him, it felt very mysterious.

With great effort he managed to tear his gaze away. He put the gem back into the box and hid it on the inside of his tunic. Luckily it was thin enough to fit.

He quickly exited the garage, leaving everything else behind. He rushed back to Watto’s, taking care not to bump into anyone and raise their ire.

Lax sighed in relief when he saw the entrance to the junkyard. He ran to it, never being happier to return to it in his entire life.

However, as he entered the shop, he calmed down and realised that he felt very faint. He looked down to see a red patch spreading across his tunic.

“Lax!”, he heard someone shout in horror. He looked up and saw Ani rushing towards him.

Lax only smiled drunkenly at him, “Hey Ani. I’m fine reall-“, before he pitched forward into Anakin’s arms and his vision turned black.

**Hope you enjoyed. This is a story I’ve been writing on FFnet.**

**Tot later**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Star Wars or any related content. It is all the property of Disney and George Lucas.**

_Italics-_Huttese

**Hope you enjoy, be warned the romance starts here.. Don’t worry though, the romance is more of a secondary point. I just had to set the relationship between ** _ **Padmé** _ _ **and Lax.**_

Lax stood at the entrance to the junkyard, watching the throng of bounty hunters, peddlers and all manner of species flow past. For all its violence and death, he still loved Mos Eisley. Everyday there was something new, something interesting, someone doing something. It was a vibrant hub, a hub of filth and slaves true, but still a vibrant one, full of life.

Well, he thought with a wince. If that strange feeling hadn’t overcome him and helped him beat Grievious. Exactly three weeks ago there would be one less life, his.

He had woken up two days after he fell unconscious. The first thing that he had seen when he woke up was his mother, asleep, while huddled on a chair next to the bed. There were tear stains on her face, Lax had never felt worse in his entire life.

When she had woken up, the first thing she had done was hug him to death. It was only when they told him what was wrong when he realised what had happened, and how stupid he had been.

He had had severe blood loss and a 3-inch-deep knife wound. Alone, it was easy to deal with them, but together, added to how Lax had taken so long to come back, he had been on the brink of death. Luckily, Watto kept a load of bacta packs and other medical equipment at the junkyard, he and Anakin had been able to patch him up, and apparently his heart had stopped for a few seconds.

Lax had never felt more stupid in his entire life.

If he had gotten back earlier, the blood loss would never have been that bad and he would have been in much better condition. But no, he decided to stay at the bay and look for that sapphire. It should be worth a lot, true, but was it worth worrying his family?

To make it worse, Lax knew he couldn’t sell the sapphire now, for fear of Grievious’s friend. It was easy to get information in Mos Eisley. The moment he sold the sapphire, he would expose his identity.

Speaking of the sapphire, Anakin had apparently kept it safe, together with the knife, for him. He had solemnly promised that he hadn’t looked inside. Lax thanked his lucky stars that Anakin knew not to peek into his business. Anakin didn’t know how to keep his mouth closed at all. He had his moments, but very rarely could he keep a secret.

At least the situation had gone back to normal, their family just living each day, saving for their freedom. He and his brother good-naturedly fighting.

Lax wondered where his brother was, they were supposed to be doing work for Watto.

“Arghh!”, came a shout from behind him.

He turned around and froze in shock.

There in front of him was the strangest sight he had seen all week. Anakin was wrestling with a droid, one of the old maintenance droids that Watto had bought two weeks ago thinking it was a good deal, till he figured out that they were faulty. Well, Lax supposed it was deserved. The parts that Watto had given the seller in payment were also half-broken. Anakin hadn’t been there, he was working for Nist, another store owner, again. So, he hadn’t learned not to touch them.

He started running towards Anakin, shouting out, “Anakin, stop!”

Anakin’s returning shout wasn’t happy,” You think that I’m not trying! Why is this crazy robot even here?!”

Lax paused suddenly, realising something, horror dawned on his face as he pleaded, “Please tell me you’re not losing in a fight against a maintenance droid.”

“Wha- “

Lax couldn’t take it, his 9-year-old brother was losing a fight against a maintenance droid. A crazy one, but still a maintenance droid, a droid half his size. He started laughing so hard he couldn’t talk. He crouched down, unable to stand straight while he was laughing. Tears were streaming down his face as he fought to stop himself from laughing. His chest and stomach were starting to hurt too much.

“**Laxis!!!**”, Anakin shouted out, he was struggling as the droid sat on his chest and held him down, “**Help me!!!**”

Lax tried to pull himself together, but each time he looked at Anakin he would just start laughing again. Finally, he managed to calm himself down enough to walk over to his brother, slowly of course, and pulled the droid off him by the neck, leaving it to dangle in the air.

“All you need to do is to tap it on its nose, see?”

Still trying to muffle his laughter, he reached over with his free hand, to tap the flailing droid on the nose. Immediately, it shut down and folded in on itself, returning to its recharge position.

Gingerly, Lax reached down to grab the droid by the sides, taking special care not touch the nose. Otherwise it would be round 2 of Anakin “Wannabe Pilot” Skywalker vs Droid. Privately, Lax thought that it would be hilarious.

However, it would be too much of a hassle to clean up the aftermath so Lax let the idea go… for now. He walked over and placed the droid next to the other faulty droids in a corner of the room.

From behind Anakin asked, “You couldn’t have told me that earlier?”

Lax turned to his brother, winking, “Now where would the fun be in that,” he walked over to Anakin, “You just made this day so much better.”, he winked at his brother again then reached to Anakin’s head to dust off the sand that had gotten stuck in it.

Anakin reached up to swat his hands away, shouting, “What are you doing?!”

Laxis raised his hands up, professing his innocence, “Nothing, nothing. Just sweeping the sand off your hair, I mean, how else will you impress those ‘angels’ that you keep on talking about.”

Anakin blushed a bit, but regained his calm and retorted back, “Well, you’d better take care of that face of yours instead, another scratch and you might ruin it further.”

“Ruin?”, Lax asked with a raised eyebrow, reaching up to trace the new scar on his left cheek, a present from Grievious, “I have it from good sources that that ‘scratch’ just makes me look better. Even if it was impossible to make me even more good looking”

Anakin laughed out, “Mom is not a good source of advice.”

“What makes you think I was talking about Mom.”

Anakin shrugged apologetically, unhurriedly saying, “Yeah, sorry”, Lax did not like the grin on his face, “I forgot that she thinks you look ugly too.”

In response to that statement Laxis decided to take the easy way out of this conversation. He reached over to Anakin and flicked him.

“Oww!”, Anakin exaggeratedly groaned, clutching his head, acting as is he had a mortal wound, “Why did you do that?”

Lax ignored him, brushing past him to reach the entrance to the back of the junkyard, “Well come on pipsqueak, we better get on with the work, or Watto might not let us get out early. Didn’t you want to continue building Op TalkAlot.”

Anakin followed grumbling under his breath, “C-3PO.” then raising his voice, “Well, I was busy doing the work, but some lazy person was daydreaming.”

Lax turn as if insulted, “Lazy?! Pipsqueak, I prefer the term… energy-efficient.” He turned again continuing to walk forward, saying, “Now come on.” to his brother.

The back of Watto’s junkyard was where most of the parts were kept and where Lax and Anakin spent most of their time when working. Everywhere you looked, there was something that needed fixing, or some interesting new machine or part. Power coils, power cores, engine parts, he could even see some parts for spaceships.

The worst part about the back was the heat, the heat was almost unbearable, and fainting was common. Every time, Lax worked outside he had to make sure that there was a lot of water nearby. A good thing about Watto was that even though he loved money, he never saved on water. Lax and Anakin always had enough water when working.

Lax sighed looking at the burning sky and quickly got to work to finish as soon as he can.

Time passed quickly as he and Anakin worked; they only needed to fix a few droids and parts. Sometimes they were busted and sometimes they managed to fix it. The broken ones they threw in a pile together so that Watto could con someone into buying it, or just dump it somewhere. Lax was busy with the relay on one of the droids, it was slightly bent.

_“Anakin! Laxis! Get in here.”, _Watto shouted to them from inside the store.

Next to Lax, Anakin dropped his motor to the floor, standing up from his crouching position to stretch.

He turned to Lax, surprised to still see him working, “Aren’t you coming?”

Lax nodded slightly, engrossed with fixing the relay, “I’m almost finished here, go without me for now. I’ll be there in a minute or so.”

Anakin nodded his acceptance and quickly ran to the store.

Lax returned to his work, straightening the rest of the relay and then it was the moment of truth. He attached it to the droid and powered it on, holding in his breath while waiting.

It worked!

He breathed out in relief, he hadn’t known if it would work. Watto would be pleased as the droid would sell for a lot, but without the relay it would be worthless.

He wiped the sweat dripping off his brow, allowing himself a drink of water as well. After he finished, he decided that he would need to check what was happening in the store.

Lax walked towards the store- passing Watto talking to a middle-aged man in a robe- hurrying a bit to get back into the cooled air. He mopped the rest of the sweat on his head with a spare rag hanging next to the entrance.

He stepped in only, hearing, “Are you an angel?” from Anakin. Wondering slightly who he was talking to he came fully into the store.

The moment he saw who Anakin was talking to, he understood why Anakin had asked that.

In front of him, stood a girl dressed in plain clothes. However, she had an air of regal authority hanging around her and her face was shaped so perfectly that Lax wondered if she was real. Her head was shrouded by the light from the twin suns, almost as if it was a halo. He knew why Anakin had asked, she really looked like an angel.

Lax had seen beautiful women before, but he had never been as attracted to anyone as he was to this girl. He stood there, dazed, the rest of the world numb as he drank in the sight.

The world stopped the moment she looked him in the eyes. Time froze, everything left his sight, except for this girl- no, this woman- in front of him. Her eyes were hazel; with a hint of azure green in it, he could see in her eyes that she was a warm person, that she cared a lot about others.

He somehow knew that she was a trustworthy person, a person that he could confide all his secrets to, tell her all his problems. He felt a connection to her, a connection he had not felt with anyone else ever before. He felt her curiosity at the planet they were on, the amazement at her surroundings. However, for some reason Lax knew that she was sad; that she was extremely worried about something and… that she was hiding.

They stood, their eyes locked into each other’s, for what felt like hours, but in reality, was only a few seconds.

Slowly, Lax managed to regain his calm and posture. Straightening his back, he walked towards the angel before him.

Stretching his arm out he asked with a confident and amused tone, “Well, miss Angel, welcome to Watto’s junkyard and may we have the pleasure of knowing your undoubtedly beautiful name?”

The angel blushed slightly, reaching out to grasp his hand with her soft, delicate, hand, saying with a soft, melodic voice, “Well I don’t know if it’s beautiful, but _Padmé_ Naberrie, and yours?”

Lax grinned in reply, raising her hand to press a kiss to it, a popular greeting a few millennia ago, but one that he still enjoyed using, “I’ve never heard a more beautiful name, for sure. My name is Laxis Skywalker, call me Lax and that little kid there is Anakin, call him pipsqueak.”

Anakin’s indignant shout came quickly, “Hey! Your jokes are getting worse.”

The girl, Padmé, giggled, likely at them.

Lax seized the opportunity, laughing out triumphantly, “Well I beg to differ, _Padmé_ laughed, didn’t she?”

He turned to look at her, unwilling to look away from her for more than a few seconds. He was drunk in her presence, he felt like he could act however he wanted to.

_Padmé_ giggled again, raising her hand to cover her mouth. She replied with an amused tone, “You guys are jokesters, aren’t you?”

Lax grinned at her again, “Why ye- “

**Clang!!!**

A loud noise cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

Turning around to find out what was wrong, Lax found himself experiencing a feeling of Deja-vu.

“Wow…”

Lax jus gaped as he saw the alien, with tall floppy ears and that looked like a frog- Lax had seen similar species before- that was with _Padmé_, fighting against a droid; not just any droid, but the maintenance droid from earlier. The worst part was that the tall alien was losing as well, he was stuck in a hold from the droid. An astromech droid was at their side, trying to shock the droid, but it kept on hitting the frog alien, shocking it instead.

Next to him _Padmé_ had a similar reaction, not gaping outright, but still looking very confused at the sight before her. Behind them, sitting on the table Anakin reacted first, quickly shouting out.

“Hit the nose! Hit the nose!”

The frog alien luckily listened, managing to pull one arm free of the hold the droid had him in and tapping the droid on the nose.

The droid folded again, returning to its original form. The frog wisely decided to leap back, staying far away from it, however it was still shaking slightly from the electric shocks the astromech gave him.

Lax shook the shock off, narrowing his eyes at the droid, while he walked to pick it up. This was the second time today that it had attacked and beaten someone. He would need to check if someone had downloaded some combat protocols in it. It was only a maintenance droid for kriff’s sake. How else could it have beaten two bigger sentient species in a fight.

He placed it carefully back to its corner, making sure to hide it behind some other droids. Didn’t want that to happen again.

Turning around he quickly apologised, “Sorry for that, faulty droid, already attacked Anakin today.”

_Padmé smiled in return, staring at the folded droid intensely. Lax could practically feel the curiosity emanating from her._

She returned her attention back to him, asking, “You work here?”

Anakin butted in, “Yip, we’ve been working here for years now, fixing parts and droids for Watto. We started here when Gardulla the Hutt bet us on a podrace, she lost us to Watto.”

_Padmé stood straight, shock apparent on her beautiful face, “Lost! You’re slaves?”_

Lax winced, Anakin hated being asked that. He tried to speak, but before he could even open his mouth, Anakin stood, angrily shouting.

“We’re people, just like you!”

Lax hurriedly spoke before Anakin could continue, “Anakin, I’m sure she knows we are. It was just a question.” He turned to _Padmé to apologise, “I’m sorry, he just gets a little touchy about that question.”_

_Padmé regretfully shook her head, “No, I’m sorry. Its just this is the first time I’ve actually seen slavery in real life.”_

Lax smiled at her thankfully before turning to face Anakin, just missing the blush that appeared on her face, “See Anakin, _Padmé’s sorry, she was just shocked for our sake. It wasn’t an insult.”_

Anakin nodded in acceptance, turning to _Padmé, “I’m sorry too Padmé.”_

_Padmé smiled at him in forgiveness, brightening up the room with her beautiful smile._

Lax faced _Padmé again, about to ask her why she was here, but as he was about to speak a powerful voice sounded out from behind him._

“_Padmé, Jar-Jar, R2. We are going.”_

The middle-aged man that Lax had seen walking with Watto walked past, a slight frown of his face. Lax had seen that frown before, he had likely argued with Watto about something.

The man walked out, not bothering to wait for a reply.

_Padmé started, looking slightly confused, she had likely not been expecting this._

She swiftly composed herself, smilingly turning to them to say, “I’m sorry for the rush, but its been nice meeting you two.”

She then turned to walk towards the exit of the junkyard calling out to the droid, “R2, come one!” It quickly followed her, beeping all the way. Amusingly, Lax knew what he was saying, and apparently the droid didn’t like being rudely ordered around.

“Its been nice meeting you too _Padmé.”, Anakin quickly shouted after her._

Lax smiled sadly, saying a simple, “Goodbye _Padmé.” _

_The moment she had left, together with that alien frog, Lax felt a profound emptiness, as if he was missing something important. He almost wanted to go after her, but he restrained himself. He had just met her, they barely knew each other, and even if he went after her the chances of finding her in the crowd outside was very small._

_His thoughts were interrupted by Watto speaking from behind, “That human is a fool. He believes he can buy from me with republic credits, tried to act like a Jedi too, trying to ‘mind trick’ me.”_

Lax raised an eyebrow, curiously asking “Like a Jedi?”

Snorting, Watto answered derisively, “Yes, like a Jedi.” Continuing as he flew back to his chair, he said, “Anyway, you two have worked enough today. You can go home early.”

Next to Lax, Anakin shrieked out his thanks, yelling out, “Yippee!” as he ran out the junkyard

Lax nodded at Watto in appreciation, before heading out to follow Anakin.

Exiting the junkyard, he saw Anakin waiting for him next to one of the roadway stalls, he was looking at something intently.

Lax walked towards him, wondering what he was so interested in.

Anakin looked up as he was approaching, brightening up as he hurriedly asked, “Lax, can we buy this. It’s not a lot. Pleaseeee”

Lax looked at what he was pointing at, immediately realising why he was begging. It was fruit from Kashyyyk, they were extremely good, and Anakin loved them, but they rarely bought them as they needed to save the money.

Lax thought for a few seconds, before deciding as he took out some peggats, “Sure, it’s been a long couple of weeks. We deserve it.”

Cheering, Anakin took the peggats, quickly buying the fruit, before hugging them protectively to his chest.

Laughingly, Lax said, “Quickly rush home Anakin, give them to Mom to prepare. I’ll go look around some more.”

Anakin nodded wordlessly, before rushing back to their hovel.

Lax nodded his head, his brother never ceased to amuse him. He was so innocent, Lax hoped he would never grow up. Well, Lax hoped that for two reasons. One, was to keep Anakin so happy. The other, well if Anakin was bigger than him, how would Lax easily be able to beat him without much effort?

Time passed as Lax looked around aimlessly, greeting a few people that he knew as he went along. He was about to head home, when suddenly, a feeling came over him. It wanted him to go somewhere, it wanted him to go to his right, it told him he would see something important to him.

Lax hesitated for a moment, he could see that a sandstorm was coming in, but he decided that just this once, he would follow it. The feeling reminded him of the time when Grievious attacked. It had already helped him once, it likely would do so again.

He hurriedly walked, following the feeling; he was heading deeper into the bazaar area. More and more delicacies and intrigues were being sold here, most of them obtained illegally, of course. There were also a fair share of fights happening, mostly between stall owners and customers.

After a while Lax was wondering if he had imagined the feeling. He had been walking for minutes now and he could see nothing that was important to him.

Pausing, he looked around for a few moments before deciding to give up and leave. But just as he was about to leave an angry voice shouted out from behind, _“You kriffing Gungan. You think you can steal my food.”_

Lax turned to look at the source of the voice, mostly wondering what a Gungan was.

The source of the noise revealed itself to be at a stall a few metres away. The owner was shouting at a tall alien… with floppy ears, that looked a lot like a frog.

Jar-Jar! The alien that had been with _Padmé. Lax realised something, if Jar-Jar was here. Then that meant Padmé was too. _

_He was about to around look for her, when his attention was attracted by Jar-Jar spitting out the food in his mouth straight into the face of a Dug. However, it wasn’t just any Dug, it was Sebulba. One of the most violent and spiteful people that Lax had ever met. He would take revenge for Jar-Jar spitting the food into his face, and Jar-Jar definitely couldn’t take him on._

Lax rushed forward, intent on stopping Jar-Jar from getting hurt. He reached Jar-Jar just as Sebulba kicked him over.

Quickly, Lax stepped forward to stand in front of Jar-Jar, cutting off Sebulba’s approach to him. Luckily, he knew Sebulba’s weakness.

_“Picking on other people again Sebulba? How petty of you.”, _said Lax with a slight smirk on his face.

Sebulba stopped in his tracks, growling out, _“Skywalker, what are you doing here?”_

Lax shrugged in return, _“Just walking around, enjoying my day. Watching people pick on others just so they can finally win in something.”_

The expression on Sebulba’s face changed instantly, this was a sore topic for him. He stood as high as he can, still not very tall and looked into Lax’s eyes.

_“Tell me that again when I beat your little brother. I hope he does come to the race or is he too scared to race against me.” _he said mockingly.

The opportunity came and Lax seized it, _“You may beat him Sebulba, but that doesn’t change the past. The only way you can truly make yourself feel better is by kicking others down isn’t it?”_

Sebulba snarled, _“Watch yourself Skywalker! I can beat you easily. Its just that you’re to afraid to face me.” _He turned, stalking away, which looked pretty amusing as Dugs walked on their hands.

Behind him Jar-Jar stood up, letting out a sigh of relief, “Mesa wansa thank yousa. Mesa Jar-Jar Binks.”

Lax laughed slightly, holding out his hand in greeting, “I’m Laxis Skywalker. It wasn’t a problem. I love irritating Sebulba.”

Jar-Jar enthusiastically shook his hand, all the while shaking his head. His ears kept on falling up and down. Almost like wings. For a short moment Lax was lost in thought about flying Gungans.

Lax released Jar-Jar’s hand and started looking around as he said, “Well, I wonder where your friends went. We should find them.”

He almost had a heart attack when suddenly, from behind the stall, a familiar voice said, “No need my young friend. We are here.”

Lax turned to the voice’s owner. It was the middle-aged human from earlier_. He was a fairly tall person, with long brown hair resting on his soldiers. He had intense grey eyes that slightly intimidated Lax. He wore a long robe and for a short second Lax saw a metal tube resting on his waist, before it was covered._

_Next to him stood Padmé, who was smiling warmly at him, and Lax was struck into a daze at her beauty again, but he managed to recover himself quickly, smiling back at her._

The man was smiling as he came forward to shake Lax’s hand, “My name is Qui-Gon Jinn and thank you for taking care of our clumsy friend there.”

“Laxis Skywalker, and its fine. He just irritated the wrong dug, Sebulba. He hates being insulted and he took Jar-Jar spitting his food into his face as an insult.”

Qui-Gon frowned at Jar-Jar, “Yes, we shall make sure to take more care.”

He turned to face Jar-Jar, “Now come we must go. We must still look for the parts.” Back to Lax he said, “Thank you again, my young friend.”

Lax frowned, concerned, speaking before they could leave, “You’re going out now? What about the storm?”

“What storm?” Padmé asked, concern appearing on her face.

“The sandstorm. Tatooine often gets sandstorms. They are very deadly; a lot of people die in those storms.”

Qui-Gon grimaced, grimly saying, “Then we must hurry back to our ship. Thank you.”

Lax curiously asked, “Where is your ship.”

Padmé replied again, “In the outskirts.”

Shaking his head, Lax said, “You won’t get there in time. These storms travel quickly and last long.”

Grimacing even more, Qui-Gon said, “Then we must look for accommodations elsewhere.”

Lax hesitated for a short moment, before firming his mind, “Well… you can come to my home if you want. Its close by and my mother will definitely agree.”

Qui-Gon decided quickly, “Then we shall accept, thank you Laxis.”

Nodding, Lax motioned them to follow, swiftly walking to the direction of his home.

They reached his hovel quickly, just in time as well, the wind was starting to become extremely strong and the sand was flying about, covering the burning twin suns.

Lax and his family lived in a simple home. A small hovel, that had over time become more comfortable and more like a real home. They had been living here since Watto had won them in the bet.

As they entered the hovel, Lax shouted out, “Mom! I bought back guests!”

From the kitchen Lax head his mother’s voice, “Coming!”

Lax turned towards the group he was with, “Please sit. I’ll quickly get my brother.”

He left for Anakin’s room. Knocking on the door he waited for Anakin to answer. It was a rule that their mother had set since they moved in.

“Yes?” Anakin quietly asked.

“We have guests.”

There was a pause before his brother opened the door, confusion on his face. “We do?”

Lax nodded in response, saying “Yip, you’ll like them” before gesturing for him to follow.

When they entered the living room that also served as the dining room, they found their mother already talking to their guests.

Anakin cheered as he recognised them, “Padmé! I never thought we’d see you again.”

Padmé smiled, standing up and saying “Well, I’m glad we are. Ani, these are my friends, Jar-Jar Binks” Then pointing at Qui—Gon “and Qui-Gon Jinn. Lastly, our astromech R2-D2”

Anakin greeted them, enthusiastically shaking their hands and looking inquisitively at R2, probably wanting to build a droid like him.

Lax’s mother, Shmi, turned towards him. She had long, brown, hair, kind eyes and smile lines. But she was only in her 40’s and she already had wrinkles. Evidence of the hard life she had as a slave.

“Good. You’re here and just in time for dinner. I was just talking to these wonderful friends of yours Lax.”

Shrugging, Lax said, “I couldn’t leave them alone. Now could I?”

Shmi fondly smiled, “Of course you couldn’t. Now, let’s eat.”

Anakin cheered, running towards the table and sitting at his usual spot. The rest of them followed, sitting down as Lax’s mother went to get the dishes. Qui-Gon sat opposite where his mom would sit and Lax sat next to _Anakin, opposite from Padmé and Jar-Jar._

She returned with steaming piles of plates, there was something of everything in there. Lax even glimpsed the Kashyyyk fruit he had bought today. They had splurged today and somehow had enough food. Luckily their mother made the food for the week, as often she was busy and there was one thing that Lax absolutely failed at. Cooking.

Everyone dug in with gusto. Lax thought with all his heart that when they were free, that his mother would become a cook. She was just so good at it. Even without spices, the food tasted amazing, melting in their mouths. Across from him _Padmé tried to hide how quickly she was eating, but Lax had simply raised an amused eyebrow at her to let her know he knew, causing her to kick him. He whispered to her that he felt that was very violent. She just rolled her eyes and kicked him again. He took the hint and continued eating._

Quickly the food was finished, and everyone rested for a moment, fully sated. After a few seconds, Lax stood to help his mother clean the table. As they were cleaning, the rest started talking.

_Padmé finally couldn’t hold her curiosity anymore, warily she asked, “Why haven’t you tried to escape this place. I know your slaves, but you must be able to go off planet.”_

His mother shook her head sadly, “If we could, we likely would already have gone away. But every slave has a transmitter in them. If they try to escape. Well…”

Anakin cut in, “They explode. But I’ve been trying to build a locator, so that we can take them out.”

_Padmé angrily asked, “But the Republic. The anti-slavery laws…”_

Lax shook his head, “There’s no Republic out here. It’s the Hutts that rule here. All we can do is try and save to buy our freedom.”

“You can do that?” _Padmé_ asked intently.

“Yes, it’s the main way to get free. The other ways are much less likely to happen. So, we’ve been saving, working extra, just to save enough money to get us all free.”

Qui-Gon added, “Slavery is very common in the outer rim. There is less authority here, so less laws.”

Laxis decided to change the topic of the conversation to a problem that had been weighing on him.

“Now that we’ve talked about us. Why don’t you tell us why a Jedi like you is on Tatooine?

There was a moment of shocked silence, before Qui-Gon warily asked, “And why do you think that I’m a Jedi.”

Lax nonchalantly shrugged, “I saw your lightsabre earlier when I helped Jar-Jar, and Watto said that you acted like you wanted to mind-trick him.”

Qui-Gon raised a solitary eyebrow, pausing to think before evidently deciding on something, “I am a Jedi on a secret mission, but our ship got shot and the hyperdrive generator was hit. We need new parts, but we have no money to buy them.”

He would never admit it, but Lax found it great to meet a real Jedi. A living legend, a person with mystical powers.

He was about to reply, when Anakin cut in, “I can fix it for you! I can fix anything!”

The whole table fondly smiled at the little boy’s enthusiasm and hope.

Lax reached out to rub Anakin’s head, smilingly saying, “I’m sure you can, but a hyperdrive generator is something different. Once it is broken, you need an entirely new one.”

Qui-Gon nodded, “Yes, but we need money to buy the parts and we have none.”

The table was silent as everyone was contemplating this problem, when Anakin had an idea.

“I got it. I’ll win the pod race for you. The prize money will be enough for you to buy a new hyperspace generator.”

Their mother instantly reacted, “No! Anakin, you remember what happened last time. You crashed in the first half of the first lap.”

Indignantly, Anakin replied, “I managed to save some of the pod at least. And that was only because Sebulba was aiming for me.”

“No Anakin! You were unconscious for three days”

“But Mom. You taught us that if we can help someone, we should. Because it’s the right thing to do.”

Their mother sighed, sadly saying, “Even if I do let you race. We don’t have a pod.”

Anakin deflated, Lax knew he wanted to build one, but had ultimately decided not too after the last race.

Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow, asking Anakin, “You can pod race?”

Anakin brightened, shaking his head enthusiastically, “Yip, me and my brother both can. We’re the only humans I know who can do it.”

Qui-Gon leaned forward, seeming to be very interested, “Pod racing needs incredible reflexes, almost inhuman like reflexes. How do you do it?”

“Its easy and sometimes I know when somethings about to happen, I can feel it.” Anakin proudly stated, showing off a bit if you ask Lax.

Qui-Gon sat back, “You can feel it? That’s very interesting…” he stopped talking as he seemed to be lost in thought

Soon everyone soon stood up, breaking up to do their own things. Qui-Gon distractedly went into the guest room that had been prepared for him.

Anakin brightened, asking _Padmé, “Do you want to see the droid I’m building?”_

_Padmé looked interested, agreeing quickly._

Lax followed them to Anakin’s room. The inside of it was a mess of droid parts and scrap metal. Anakin really had a talent at building things and messing up his room.

Gingerly, Lax and _Padmé stepped into the few gaps in the parts to reach the area where the droid lied._

The droid was incomplete, as it had no plating around it, exposing all its insides. Last time Lax had seen it, one of its eyes was missing, Anakin had obviously found it as all its eyes were present.

“This is the droid. It’s called C-3PO.” Anakin introduced the droid to _Padmé._

Lax interjected quickly, “Or if you’d like to you can call it Op TalkAlot.”

“No, it isn’t called that. Ignore him.” Anakin quickly said, causing _Padmé to laugh, but she quickly focused on the droid again, clearly impressed._

“Did you build this?”

He then proudly stated, “I built it all myself, all from scratch.”

Curiously, _Padmé moved closer, “Does it work?”_

Anakin grinned, “See for yourself.” He pressed the button on C-3PO to turn him on.

_Padmé jerked backwards as the droid suddenly moved, standing up jerkily, all the while saying, “Good day. My name is C-3P0, Human Cyborg Relations and you are?”_

It moved forward, not waiting for their response, unsteadily walking as it reached the door where R2 was, “Why hello there. I am C-3PO, Human Cyborg Relations.”

R2 beeped and twittered back, moving backwards and forth as it did.

“R2-D2, you say. I must say, it is a great pleasure to meet you.”

_Padmé turned towards Anakin, “He works. He’s perfect.”_

Just as she said that, C-3PO powered down as his battery ran out.

Anakin shrugged reaching over to tug the droid back to its resting spot, as he said, “The only problem is that his battery dies quickly. I can’t find a working battery for his model. Weirdly, it’s one of the few parts Watto doesn’t have.”

Their mom called out of the living room, “Anakin, you better go to sleep. Watto may want us early tomorrow since he let you off early.”

Anakin groaned, before yelling out his assent. Lax and Padmé said their goodnights before heading off to their rooms as well.

_Padmé was sleeping in Lax’s room, he had a sneaking suspicion it was because his room was much cleaner than Anakin’s, while he slept in his mother’s, as she had two beds in there. Soon, the house was quiet, the only sound that could be heard was the muted sounds of the nightlife of Mos Eisley from outside the house._

But Lax couldn’t sleep, he felt uneasy as if there was something wrong. Something was weighing down on him. He could feel something calling to him, calling him to the roof.

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He stood silently to not wake up his mother. Creeping out side the room, he quietly walked, following the feeling as it led him to the roof of the house.

Climbing up the stairs, Lax took a deep breath of fresh air. Looking around for what had called him, his eyes settled on a figure shrouded in darkness, sitting close to the edge. The person’s features could barely be seen, but Lax had a good idea who it was. He could feel the connection

Approaching the figure, he softly called out, “_Padmé_!”

The figure started, turning slightly, revealing itself to truly be _Padmé._

She nodded wordlessly at him in greeting before turning back to look at the sky.

Lax sat down next to her, joining her in looking at the stars in a comfortable silence.

For minutes they sat there, looking at the dazzling bed of glinting stars as they surrounded the luminous moons in the sky. Lost in the beauty of the moment. The three moons were spread out evenly through the dazzling array of stars, shining a faint light upon them, creating a picture of beauty and elegance.

“What are you thinking about?” Lax broke the silence.

_Padmé was silent for a few moments, before morosely saying, “About my planet and my people. At this very moment, they are being invaded by droids, being slaughtered in hundreds, while I sit here, useless, in Tatooine instead of helping my people.”_

“Why do you think you’re being useless?” asked Lax with a curious tone.

Standing up abruptly, Padmé said with tears beginning to grow in her eyes as she walked to the edge, “Because all my life, I tried to help these people, all my life I swore to do whatever I could to protect them, but instead of me being at Coruscant asking the senate for help, I’m here, stuck on this planet.”

Lax stood to follow here, gently taking one of her hands, “Is it your fault that your ship got taken shot? Is it your fault that your hyperdrive was damaged?”

“Ye-“

“No!” Lax cut her off, “It’s not! That was all done by those droids you talked about. None of it is your fault.”

_Padmé shook her head, “It is. If I had just recognised the signs earlier. If I had just realised that the Trade Federation was going to invade.” She raised her voice in self-hatred, “But I didn’t! I waited and now my people are being captured and forced to work or sold as slaves.”_

Lax stood silently, contemplating the titbit of information had gotten. It seemed almost as if _Padmé settled the blame on herself. Almost as if she was someone important on her planet…_

Ignoring that train of thought, Lax thought about something, something he had kept hidden, even from his family, but as he looked at the tears falling on _Padmé’s face, he knew what he had to do._

“You know… I once promised myself that I would one day travel the stars with Anakin. That one day it would be me, him and the ship. Going everywhere we want too. Coruscant, Kashyyyk, Corellia. But as each day passes that we are still slaves, I can see that hope for freedom disappearing from his eyes. I can feel it disappearing from me too.”

_Padmé looked confused, “Why are you saying this?”_

Lax smiled at her, reaching up to rub the tears of her angelic face, before grabbing her hand to pull her along with him.

Padmé asked confused_, “Where are we going?”_

“You’ll see.” Lax said ambiguously.

They silently exited the house as Lax led her to a broken-down building near the house. Dust and sand covered the building, it hadn’t been cleaned for a long time.

Following him, _Padmé asked, “What is this.”_

Lax turned to grin at her, “This is one of the storage areas owned by a Hutt. I know him and he owes me a few favours, so he let me use this.” Opening the door, the inside revealed itself to contain only a few things. A few boxes and a three large objects, hidden under a piece of canvas.”

Curiosity overcame _Padmé, as she stepped closer to the unknown objects, “What is this.”_

Lax smirked at her curiosity, not answering her question, before continuing the conversation from the roof, “Anyway, as I was saying. Each day I saw that hope of freedom disappear from his eyes. It hurt me every time I had to see it. I knew that as each day passed, Anakin’s hope for a free life diminished. He may not show it, but inside he is just a small scared boy, trying to live his life to the fullest. That is a sign that I failed. A sign that I didn’t do enough to make my brother happy. I never want you to experience that. Ever”

_“Why are you telling me this?” Padmé asked sadly, “Its not like we can do much here.”_

Lax smiled at her, “But what if you got your hyperdrive and managed to get to Coruscant. Then you would be able to do something, right?”

“Yes.” Padmé said with determination, “But still without money, how will we get one?”

Laughing, Lax removed the canvas on one of the objects, pulling it off in one swift motion, “We win money then.”

In front of them stood a pod racer, it was dark blue, sleek and looked very fast. It had a few scratches, but_ it was in good shape and could be easily fixed._

Stuttering, _Padmé shouted, “But-But I thought you didn’t have one!”_

“No, Anakin just didn’t build one. This is my racer, no one knows I stored it here, well I guess no one except for you. And guess what?”

“What?” asked Padmé_ with a growing hope bubbling in her chest._

“This racer has won the race before, and for you and your people, it will win it again.”, Lax said as he proudly waved at the racer.

_Padmé gasped, before launching herself at Lax, tears of joy flying down her face as she hugged him, “Thank you! Thank you!” before she raised her head to look at him, still hugging him, “Why though? Why help us?”_

Lax raised his hand, settling sadly on her beautiful cheek covered in tears of joy as he smiled at her, “Because Angels should never cry.”

_Padmé pulled him back into a tighter hug as she cried tears of joy onto his shoulder._

**I guess you know what is coming next. Pod-racing.**

**Comment if you want. Tell me what’s bad and what you like.**

**Addio**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Star Wars. Disney and George Lucas do.**

**Sometimes, AO3 just makes my words look like italics, so this may be confusing. Chapter 2 had a big problem with that. Just ignore them if you think the italics are misplaced.**

_Italics-Huttese_

**Kuba- The distance of a Jawa clan in single file, about 2 metres.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

He and Padmé had stayed at the building for another three hours. Once he had managed to pry Padmé off him, they had decided that since the race was that day, just after midday, they quickly needed to fix the pod. They didn’t know if it would run.

It hadn’t run in years. Not since Lax had last won the race. The rules of the tournament were extremely unfair to the slaves who raced. Even if they won, around 99% of the prize money would go to the sponsor, and the rest to the slave. It was a rule created for owners to exploit their slave racers even more.

However, after what had happened last time Watto and him had both agreed not to race again. They did not want to take the risk.

But when Lax had looked at Padmé, when he had seen how sad and broken, she was, when he had felt her sadness. He knew, he would try and help her, even… even if it put his life at risk.

Watto described it as a weakness of his, that he was too ‘compassionate’. Lax took it as a compliment, for it helped him sleep well at night, but he only helped those who deserved it. He wasn’t a selfless person who would help others just on a whim. Only those who he truly felt who deserved it.

Not only was Padmé deserving, Lax couldn’t bear to see the pain in her eyes, to feel her pain. There was a connection between them. The connection he had felt since they met, and it only proved to further drive him to help her.

Lax’s thoughts were cut off as the occupant of his thoughts spoke, “Are you okay, Lax. You seem deep in thought”

Padmé was happy. He could feel that. He could feel no more sadness in her, only joy and a strong hope, likely to save her people. She looked happy too. She was smiling as she wiped some grime off her hands with a rag.

She was cleaning the pod as he fixed it. The pod had looked so good after a while that Lax had offered her a permanent position as official cleaner, but her response was not enthusiastic to say the least. His leg was still hurting from the kick. She had been kind enough to avoid his arms, but he suspected it was only because he needed them to drive the pod.

Cheerfully, he replied, “Yes, I’m wondering if I should call you a demon instead. Angels definitely aren’t as violent as you.”

Rolling her eyes, Padmé jokingly replied, “I’m rethinking working with you.”

Good naturedly, Lax winked at her before turning to look at the all-new pod.

He hadn’t been joking when he said that Padmé could clean. The pod and its engines were spotless, not a single speck of dust could be seen on them. Luckily the pod wasn’t very big, the engines were laid out on its side, allowing the whole pod to fit in the building, when not stacked on one another.

Breathing deeply, Lax headed to the controls, “Time for the moment of truth. It will either work and we can race today, or....” He trailed off, unwilling to complete the sentence.

He could see that Padmé was holding in her breath as well. She knew what it would mean if the pod was broken. They would have no way to go off planet. No way to get to Coruscant. No way to save her people.

Slowly, Lax reached forward and he flipped the switch to the pod…

Silence. Pure silence.

Lax dropped his hand, gloomily looking at Padmé. She was trying to hold in her tears. Sadness clouding her face. She was trying to act strong. To think up something else.

Lax sighed, “I’m sor- “

**Throoom**

The pod burst to life. Its engines heating up and firing. The ends heated up in preparation to burst out and accelerate. The pod’s controls came to life, lights flickering on and monitors beeping. The whole pod lifted itself off the rack, its propulsor engines firing up to keep it aloft.

It was ready to race.

“Yesssss!” Lax shouted out. “It works!”

He turned towards a beaming and laughing Padmé. He ran towards her, picking her up and spinning her, laughing all the way. The moment he set her down she grasped him in a tight hug. Unwilling to let go.

“It works. It works” she muttered, her head pressed into his neck. Those words were magical for her. Tears of joy were streaming down her face.

Slowly, they disentangled from each other. They looked at the pod, a symbol of hope for them.

“It needs a name.” Padmé unconsciously muttered.

Lax smiled, he had a perfect name.

“Let’s call it… An Angel’s Hope. Angel for short.” ­

Padmé reddened, walking to stand next to him, softly saying, “Thank you Lax.”

“No problem. Now, I think both of us need to sleep before the race.”

She nodded to show her agreement. He turned off Angel, before exiting and locking the door with the security pad. Luckily a Hutt owned the building, and no one wanted to piss a Hutt off by breaking into their properties. So, the pod was safe.

It was still dark outside, but Lax estimated that the sun would soon rise in about four hours. Then it would be five hours before the race started. Luckily Lax could function well without much sleep.

Silently, the entered the hovel, making sure not to wake anyone up. They said their goodnights and went to their respective rooms, tired to the bone from the excitement of the night.

A few hours later Lax awoke, energised and ready to go. He looked at a holo-clock to check the time. He had slept for only five hours, but he had never felt more awake in his entire life. But, he grimaced as he realised something horrible. He would have to tell his mother he was going to race again.

She would definitely not like that at all. When he had said he was finished racing she had been relieved. She had told him she hated seeing him out there, surrounded by people willing to kill him for the prize money. Come to think of it, of the people that he had raced with in his first race; only he and Sebulba remained. The rest were either dead, injured or retired.

Most were dead.

Pod racing was an incredibly dangerous sport. The chances of surviving one race was low to begin with, never mind multiple. Many people died each race, either due to their pods crashing and exploding or someone sabotaging them.

Either way, his mother would not like this.

Steeling himself, he headed towards the living room where everyone was gathered around the table. Lax saw Padmé as well. She also didn’t look tired as she smiled at him.

His mother looked up from her conversation with Qui-Gon, surprised to see him, “You’re up? I thought you would sleep more. You looked dead tired. Did you not sleep well?” She stood up urgently, not giving him time to respond, concernedly walking towards him, “Are you sick?”

Lax waived his mother’s smothering off, “I’m fine. I was actually just busy fixing something last night.”

His mother sighed in relief, “That’s good. You’re luckily Watto sent me a message that he doesn’t need us today.” She turned to return to the chair, asking, “What were you fixing?”

Lax took a deep breath in preparation, praying to whatever gods that existed to help him, “The pod I’m going to be using in the race today.”

His mother shook her head absently, “That’s nice, how did it g- “

She twirled around to look at him, shouting out, “What! What pod!”

Lax tried to smile at her to placate her, “The pod I used a few years ago. The one in the last race.”

Lax’s mother stared at him, shocked, unable to say anything. She tried to speak, but she only mouthed incomprehensible words.

“You kept it! I thought you destroyed it!” Anakin shouted as he came running to him in excitement. However, he paused as he realised something, “Wait! You said you were gonna race today. I thought you stopped.”

Lax crouched to his brother’s head level, smirking slightly, “Well, now I’m unstopping pipsqueak.”

By that time his mother had recovered, she rushed to him, shouting “No You Are Not! What Gave You This Stupid IDEA.” She emphasised the last word as she grabbed onto him.

Prying his mother’s grip of him, Lax calmly replied, “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

That shocked his mother, “What?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do.” Lax repeated as he stepped forward to look his mother in the eyes. “Padmé’s planet is being invaded, while they are stuck here, and this is the only way for them to get those parts they need. I know it’s dangerous, but I have to try.”

His mother tried to reply, but Lax cut her off, “Mom. Let me do this. I don’t want to let Padmé suffer while her planet and people burn. Let me race. Only once, mom. I promise you.”

His mother’s eyes softened as she calmed down, “Okay, Lax. I’ll let you do this. But only if you promise you’ll be careful.”

“I will be mom. I promise.” Said Lax as he hugged his mother to comfort her.

Releasing his mother, he glanced at Qui-Gon, nodding his head to the stairs. Qui-Gon nodded to show his understanding, leaving the room.

Lax looked down, at Anakin, “I’ll be back soon, okay? Then I can show you the pod.”

Anakin nodded excitedly, before running off to his room.

Lax smiled at Padmé, before going up the stairs to meet Qui-Gon.

He was waiting for Lax close to the edge, gazing at the surroundings.

As Lax approached him, he seemed to sense Lax’s coming closer, saying, “You wished to talk to me.”

Not yet responding, Lax went to sit on one of the chairs close by. The Skywalkers enjoyed sitting up here, especially at night.

“Yes, I need you to promise me something. Something extremely important.”

No emotion could be seen on the Jedi’s face, “What exactly do you want.”

Lax didn’t hesitate, “I want you to buy my mother and Anakin’s freedom when I win. With the prize money you can afford to buy Anakin’s, and with the money we saved added to the leftovers. It should be enough to buy my mother’s as well. When you do that, I want you to leave with them as quickly as you can. Ask Watto to bring the parts with him and he always has our transmitters with him.”

“You did not mention your own freedom though. Do you expect your family to leave you? Do you not wish for freedom?” Qui-Gon asked curiously, seating himself on the chair opposite Lax.

Lax helplessly shrugged, “I want to go with them, but there isn’t enough money.”

“Then why must they go with us and not stay here.”

“Because… Because you want to train Anakin. I know you do. You want him to go with you to Coruscant, to train to become a Jedi. I can see how interested you are in him.”

Qui-Gon leaned forward, seeming to become more interested in the conversation, “That may be, true, but then I see no reason for your mother not to stay behind with you.”

Lax stood abruptly, stalking to the edge of the roof, intensely staring at the horizon in frustration, “Because they’ll be safer with you. If they stay with me, the chances are they will get hurt.”

“Why” said Qui-Gon as he stood to join him.

Lax sighed helplessly, before morosely saying, “The last time I won, I pissed the wrong people off. The came to warn me that night. Me and Watto. They told us that if I raced again. They.” Lax paused, remembering the night, “They would hurt us. Hurt our families. That’s why I never raced again. And that’s why they need to leave with you.”

Qui-Gon stood still, contemplating the problem, before asking, “Then why race for us?”

“It’s like I said. I can’t just stand here and do nothing if I can help others. If I don’t help you, millions will suffer, maybe billions.”

Qui-Gon probed, “That’s not all. I can feel you hiding something.”

Lax considered not telling him, but ultimately decided it was better for Qui-Gon to know, at least half of it, “This is the only chance to let them escape this life. I’ve wanted my family to be free for years now. Looking for opportunities to buy our freedom.”

Lax paused, looking desolately at the sun rising in the sky, as desperation and sadness clouded his voice, “If letting them go free means I have to stay behind, then so be it.”

“Is that so?” Qui-Gon simply said.

Lax answered desperately, falling to his knees before Qui-Gon, “Yes! Now will you help us. Please.”

Silence permeated the surroundings. Lax was giving up hope before he felt Qui-Gon grab onto his arm, pulling him up.

He looked up, seeing a warm smile resting on Qui-Gon’s face, “Of course I will help you. Your family is kind and deserving of help. I was planning on helping you from the beginning. Wanting to train Anakin just helped that. I wanted to see what type of person you are. As a Jedi I have seen many people who have these requests for reasons which will not benefit those they want us to help.”

Beaming, Lax laughed out. They had a chance. His family had a chance of leaving this forsaken planet.

“But…” Qui-Gon said drawing his attention, “You must promise me you will never kneel for anything again.”

Lax looked at Qui-Gon confusedly, “What?”

The reply came in a serious tone, “You must promise me that you will never kneel again. That you will always stand and never lower yourself. There will be a time where you must kneel, but you must only do it that once.”

“I don’t unde- “

“Promise me.”

Lax was taken aback, but he replied firmly, “I promise.”

“Good.” Qui-Gon looked satisfied.

“But why?”

Qui-Gon smiled mysteriously, “You will understand one day. Now get ready for that race, otherwise how else will you free your family quickly.”

Lax nodded, deciding to not think much about the promise now. He headed for the stairs, but as he was about to descend Qui-Gon threw something at him.

Quickly reacting, Lax managed to catch it before it fell onto the floor. It was a commlink. Confused, he looked at Qui-Gon inquisitively.

Qui-Gon shrugged, “If you need to contact me. And remember Laxis Skywalker,” He turned back to look at the distant towers of Mos Eisley, “The ignition is next to the autopilot.”

Lax looked at Qui-Gon interestedly. What was the point of telling him that? But he had no time to think about that now. The race would start soon, and he needed to fetch some things from the storage building, and he had an idea about one of the things at Watto’s junkyard. Lax had an inkling that Watto would be willing to give it to him.

Time passed quickly as everyone in the hovel was filled with anxiety for the coming race. For Padmé and her group this was the race that would let them go to Coruscant and save her planet. For the Skywalkers, it was when one of them would risk his life in race.

They arrived at the race track half an hour before the race. They swiftly registered and started to set up the Angel. Lax wore hooded robe to minimize the chances of being recognized before the start of the race.

Anakin frowned when he looked at the box Lax was placing in the pod, pointing at it and saying “Lax… what’s in there?”

Lax grinned, “Nothing you need to know about pipsqueak. Just some preparations.”

Anakin’s frown deepened, “But you’re not allowed to bring anything with you, but your pod.”

“Well, if you don’t tell them then they won’t know, will they?”

Understanding dawned on Anakin’s face, “Ohhhhh. Yip. I won’t say a thing.”

Lax smirked, patting his brother’s head, managing to say, “Good boy.” before his hand was swatted away.

“Lax.” From behind he heard his mother’s voice.

Turning, Lax saw his mother nervously wringing her hands. He grinned at her, before walking up to hug her, “I’ll be fine Mom. Before you know it, I’ll have won, and we’ll be celebrating.”

The nervousness didn’t disappear from her face, “Yes, but still, you haven’t raced in a long time. Sebulba will be going for you. Something may hap- “

Lax cut his mother off by hugging her again, repeating “I’ll be fine. Tell you what. Because I did this, I’ll cook for the next week.” He didn’t have the heart to tell her about the fact that they would probably never see each other after this day.

His mother let a laugh, Lax was glad to see the worry slightly disappearing from it, “And burn the house down. I’d rather let Anakin cook.”

Lax released her, stepping away as if insulted, “I take that as an insult mother. I’ll prove to you I’m a better cook to you. How about Roasted Porg, there should be enough money for that, even if we save most of the leftovers.”

Laughing even more, his mother pushed him away, “Hush now. Go and win that race.”

“I will mom. I definitely will.” Lax knew he had too. This was all or nothing.

Lax turned to go to his pod, the race would start soon. But before he could walk more than a kuba, a body slammed into him. It was Padmé.

She grasped him in a hug, even tighter than before, enveloping him in her comforting warmth, “Thank you Lax. Even if you don’t win. Thank you for trying.”

Lax smiled comfortably at her, wrapping his arms around her, “No problem.”

They stood there for a few moments, soaking in the moment. But Lax had to pull away, they were calling racers to the track.

Smiling at her one last time, he walked to the Angel where Anakin was busy with last minute checks. He ruffled his little brothers head once again, ignoring the protest from the little boy once again.

Standing next to the Angel he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to prepare himself. He stood for a moment, silent as the dead. Opening his resolute eyes, he slowly breathed out.

Now or Never.

_“Welcome! Welcome to the Mos Eisley Pod Race.”_ Lax’s attention got attracted by the announcer, that was standing next to Jabba the Hutt, starting to talk.

_“This will surely be the race of the century! The race that will be known by the whole galaxy as the greatest race in the history of the galaxy!”_

The crowd was roaring as the announcer spoke. Pausing for effect, the rodian continued, _“Now! Let us introduce these racers to see who will di- race for glory today.” _If it was even possible the crowd was roaring even more. A bloodthirsty crowd observed Lax.

Well, they had come to the right place for blood.

_“First, we have the mighty Sebulba! He and his pod have destroyed countless other pods and he has been the champion for four years in a row! Will he win again?! Well place your bets and wait to find out!” _Aah, Gambling. The only thing everyone on Mos Eisley reliably did. Watto had won Lax and his family by gambling.

One by one the racers were introduced. Everyone had to show their face, it was the race rules. Lax thought it was there so that people who had lost money could pay the racer back if they were weak. Or a slave, like Lax was.

Finally, the announcer reached Lax, who was at the very end, _“Lastly, we have…” _The announcer paused, waiting for Lax to reveal himself.

Swiftly, Lax flipped his hood down in one smooth motion. The announcer and some of the crowd hushed as they realised who he was. In the corner of his eye he could see Sebulba staring at him in shock.

The rodian managed to recover quickly, screaming out, _“I almost can’t believe myself! Laxis Skywalker is here. The three-time champion has come back to reclaim his title. For newcomers, this is the only human that has ever won this race, and he has even beaten Sebulba before! This truly will be the race of the century!”_

The roar of the crowd grew as the announcer spoke, ultimately resulting in a howling roar that almost shook the ground.

Lax smiled, trying to hide his nervousness, waving at the crowd. He had already revealed himself. There was no going back now.

The announcer shouted a few moments later, after the crowd had died down a bit.

_“Racers! Enter your pods!”_

His heart beating madly, Lax sat down in the Angel. Pulling down the goggles that would stop the dust from entering his eyes.

The crowd thundered, rising from their seats in anticipation.

Ba-dum Ba-dum Ba-dum

His heart beat as Lax started to panic slightly. What if he lost? Then he had endangered his family for nothing. His hands were getting sweaty from the nervousness. Warmth and coldness alternated in overwhelming Lax. His thoughts were in turmoil. He tried to convince himself. Tried to firm himself. Give himself an even bigger reason to win, to motivate him.

Padmé.

He had to win. He had to win for Padmé. She was relying on him to win and Lax didn’t know what he would do if he disappointed her.

Lax’s mind settled, warmth overwhelming him, giving him energy, making him alert and ready to race. His hands stopped sweating, easily drying in the burning sun.

He was ready.

As if following his thought process the rodian started counting down.

_“Three!” _Breathe in, _“Two!” _Breathe out. The crowd hushed, the only sound was the engines of the pods roaring.

_“Oneeee!!!!” _

Lax reacted immediately, pushing the handles forward, streaking forward in a blur of light, together with the rest of the pods.

He weaved between the racers in front. Passing them easily as they tried to block him with their pods.

He managed to pass around five racers before he entered the first canyon on the track. It was extremely hard to pass other pods here. There was barely enough room for three pods side by side.

Looking around him, he noticed four pods were closing in on him, surrounding him, one in front, one behind him and two to his right and left side. Lax tried to look for an opening that he could squeeze through.

Looking ahead Lax saw what they were planning. There was long ahead of him, laying straight in the middle of the track, separating the sides. The racers were trying to stop him from being able to dodge it and crash. Likely killing him. It would easily work on any normal racer, but not on him.

Calmly he kept on looking around for an opening. This was not the first time he had been in a situation like this, but his method for this, if he could find no other viable option, was rather… dangerous and relied a large amount on luck.

Lax could see no opening for him to slip through. Meaning it was time to go for it. The pod to the left of him was huge, his plan wouldn’t work on it. However, the pod to his right, closing in slightly due to the narrowing canyon, was small.

That was his target then.

Reaching for the switches, he prepared to reroute all power to the right engine. What he was going to do next he had also done in his first race. He had done it completely by accident, a result of hitting the wrong switch, but it worked. He had been incredibly lucky.

Counting in his head, he calculated the perfect time to start.

One… Two… Three… Four… Five. Now!

In an instant Lax had flipped the switch to reroute all power to the right engine, turning the Angel to smash against the small pod on his right as well.

The two pods connected with a large bang. The smaller pod was smashed against the wall by the force of the collision. It managed to survive, but there were sparks flying from the side. The Angel wasn’t undamaged either. The side had a large gash in its body.

He had damaged the pod and now he could move on with his plan.

Turning the Angel to streak towards the small pod again, Lax prepared, his hand hovering above the important button.

He waited for that feeling to arrive again. That feeling that had helped him before, with Grievious and many times more. The feeling he relied on in these races. Yet, he had to hurry as the wall and the small pod were getting very close/

Wait… wait… Now!

Lax hit the button, switching off all power to the propulsor engines on the body. The body of the Angel hung in the air for a short moment, time paused. Lax prayed; would it work?

Time sped up. The pod lost altitude, crashing and skidding onto the ground. The engines were in front of the small pod, the lines connecting it to the Angel’s body laying just underneath the pod. They were staying aloft and dragging the body along as it skidded under the small pod, coming out on the other side. Reacting swiftly, he turned the engines back on, raising the pod of the body back off the ground that was slowly slanting up into a wall.

The small pod wouldn’t dare to try anything, because it was too damaged already.

Lax seized the opportunity. He accelerated forward outstripping the small pod, racing forward to exit the canyon in front of the pod ahead.

Ahead, the canyon was opening onto a plain with tightly packed tall rock pillars spread out across it. Lax knew this place was the most dangerous part of the race. If your reflexes weren’t fast enough, then…

Lax hoped everyone had said goodbye to their families.

In the span of a few seconds Lax managed to reach the canyon’s exit, just alongside of the pod that had tried to block him from the front. Together they plunged into the maze of twisted pillars

The pillars blocked the light somewhat, casting them in a dancing mix of dark and the odd ray of light that penetrated through the small gaps.

Lax focused intensely on not crashing. Left. Left again. Sharp right! The Angel dutifully followed his orders, gliding around the turns and dodging pillars smoothly. The other pod had disappeared long ago.

So far everything was going smoothly, but Lax needed to catchup. It was better for him to find Sebulba early than later.

Lax saw the exit appearing ahead, a doorway of light in this dark world. He came closer, closer, closer…

**Throooooooooooooooooom**

Out of nowhere the other pod appeared to his right, streaking forward to crash into the Angel. It was bigger and would likely survive, but the Angel would be pushed into a pillar, exploding in a sea of debris and flames.

Lax almost didn’t have time to react, but somehow, he knew what to do. In slow motion, Lax thrusted to his right, the Angel turning to obey his command to smash into the engines of the other pod.

With an almighty boom, the engines exploded. Releasing a sea of fire and death. The fire tickled the back of the Angel, burning the hairs on the back of Lax’s neck. Lax sped up, aiming at the exit, trying to outrun the fire.

Just as the fire was about to envelop the back of The Angel, Lax burst through the exit, out into an open plain, swiftly moving forward as the fire bloomed behind him.

Lax sighed in relief, that had been close. Too close. Lax knew that what he had done was dangerous, but it had been the only way for him to survive. The back of the Angel was smoking slightly and there were a few cracks in the body. Lax knew his mother would go crazy at the burnt neck hairs.

Refocusing on catching up to Sebulba, Lax looked ahead. There were a few pods rushing along ahead, together with a few wrecks left behind.

Pushing the Angel to gain more speed, Lax steadily gained ground on them, after around thirty seconds, he managed to reach them.

There were five of these pods, all fighting to get ahead. At the front two large pods were smashing at each other; trying to make the other crash.

Lax gained on the pod at the back, pulling along side him, seeking to just speed past it. But just as he pulled alongside it, an extreme sense of danger overcame him.

The pod was smashing towards him!

It hit him with an almighty crash, knocking Lax away, causing him to spin out of control slightly. He fell behind as he tried to stabilize his flight path, holding the controls as firmly as he could while he thought to maintain control.

After a few seconds, Lax managed to straighten the Angel, rushing to accelerate and catch up to the pack in front.

He had fallen quite a bit behind in the few seconds that he had been out of control, but Lax knew that although the Angel was lacking in strength; it was the fastest pod in the race.

Slowly, he managed to catch up to the pack again, racing through canyon after canyon and even through a cave, but by that time they were almost at the end of the first circuit.

Coming up alongside the pod again as they were about to finish the first circuit, Lax saw it barrelling towards him again. However, ahead one of the large pods smashed into the other with a large bang, causing the racer to lose control, veering off into the ground.

He exploded and a sphere of fire expanded around him.

Lax and the other pod swerved, trying to dodge the debris and flames, but the other pod reacted to late. With another loud bang it hit the smoking wreck, also exploding.

Lax wove in between the wrecks, passing by another two pods that had been caught in the explosion. The racers were still alive, if the screams from the pods were any indication. But they wouldn’t be for long.

The screams, however, were almost drowned out by the roar of the excited crowd.

Leaving the wrecks behind, Lax saw the other large pod stuttering in its flight path, its engines were smoking indicating it had also been damaged by the explosion.

Streaking past it, Lax hurried to catch up with Sebulba, ignoring the other pod. It would have to stop racing now.

Soon, he entered the first canyon again. Whizzing through it, he dodged some wrecks of other pods. Sebulba was busy, mused Lax.

Quickly, he passed through the maze of twisted rocks, the open plain after that and the many following canyons. All the while dodging many smoking wrecks on the way. Pod racing was a gamble, Lax thought grimly, you either won and survived, or likely died. Only a few racers would survive and lose. Usually the ones that raced far away from anyone else.

As he passed the sign that marked the beginning of the last fifth of the circuit, he saw a sight that gave him hope. Ahead of him was a large, pitch black pod, charging forward like a rancor.

Sebulba!

Lax grinned, he had finally caught up to that dug.

Pushing forward, Lax accelerated, quickly reaching maximum speed, a speed he rarely flew at as it was too dangerous. But, now that he had caught up, it was time to show Sebulba, why Lax had always won.

As Lax closed in on Sebulba, he noticed Sebulba’s pod slowing down slightly.

Smirking as he continued rushing forward, he muttered to himself, “Still using the same old tricks, Sebulba.”

When Lax had finally pulled alongside Sebulba’s right, they were only two minutes away from the end, in the last canyon. But then Sebulba finally sprung his ‘trap’. He pulled sharply to his right, aiming to smash Lax into pieces.

Lax reacted quickly, already having known about it. He also turned slightly to the left, going up the wall of the canyon, till he was racing full tilt perpendicularly on the canyon wall.

Below him Sebulba smashed against the wall, going to fast to be able to also go up the wall and smash Lax off.

Lax smirked at Sebulba, who was seated directly below him. It was a mocking smirk, and Lax knew that the easiest way to get Sebulba angry was to mock him.

True to fashion, Sebulba snarled, before he took out a surprise tool with him. Well… more of a weapon.

The gleaming dark knife glowed malevolently in Sebulba’s hand. Lax watched in shock as Sebulba rushed forward, before slowing down, keeping pace with Lax, just underneath the rope that connected the engines to Lax. He hadn’t thought Sebulba would bring a knife. A blunt weapon maybe, but not a knife.

Sebulba smirked at him, reaching up to try and cut the line. Lax knew he couldn’t let him do that. If the line was cut, then he would smash into the ground at full speed. Which had a likely result of death and despair. He also couldn’t move down, otherwise he would be smashed by Sebulba.

But luckily Lax had planned for Sebulba to do something like this, and he had the perfect secret weapon. Taking the ‘weapon’ out of the box he grinned at Sebulba, confusing him somewhat. Why would this infernal Skywalker be laughing when he was about to die?

Lax grin grew wider as he tapped the object and threw it at Sebulba. In mid air it transformed; from a folded form, it grew into a small droid.

It was the maintenance droid from before!

It landed on Sebulba’s face, looking around, confused at why it was on a speeding ship, before instinct took over and it launched itself at Sebulba, trying to pin him.

Lax laughed as he saw the droid attack Sebulba, hitting at the dug’s face with an awe-inspiring speed, clambering all over Sebulba.

Sebulba let go of the controls, raising his hands to defend himself.

A fatal mistake.

Without Sebulba’s control, the pod lost stability, sharply turning left. Straight into the wall!

Lax sped up, trying to outrun the pod as it exploded.

With a flash of light Sebulba disappeared in a sea of flames, silencing him forever. Lax flew past, managing to dodge the debris just in time. But just as he passed the ball of flame, a small dark object was thrown at him due to the force of the explosion.

It was the droid!

Reaching out Lax caught the droid by the neck, setting it down next to him. Lax instantly realised his mistake. What if it attacked him?!

Lax glanced at the droid expecting to see it preparing to launch itself at him. But instead he saw the droid silently standing, looking around in amazement at the passing scenery. Probably, at how fast it was passing.

Surprised, Lax focused on the race again, if he failed now because of a lack of attention he would literally cry.

Zipping out of the canyon Lax saw the finish line ahead of him. The crowd was roaring at the sight of him.

The winner.

His heart swelling with pride and happiness, Lax rushed past the finish line, braking to come to a quick stop.

Filled with joy Lax took of his goggles, laughing as he did so. Raising his fist to the air in victory at the crowd.

Exiting the Angel, Lax stood on the warm sand, soaking in the pride at winning.

With a large thump a body slammed into him.

It was Anakin, who was shaking in excitement, “You did it! You won! You’re the best!”

Beaming, Lax hugged his brother, “Thanks pipsqueak.”

“Laxis!” came his mother’s voice as she hugged him, “I’m so proud of you.”

Laxis sunnily smiled, grasping his mother wordlessly. He knew that this may be the last time he could do this.

Releasing his mother and brother Lax looked around for Qui-Gon and Padmé.

He spotted Padmé running towards him, alongside the crowd coming out to congratulate them.

Lax grinned, but his smile froze as he noticed something.

One of the people in the crowd, an unknown species wearing a hood, was taking out a tube from his waist. Next to him, another hooded person was taking out a blaster. Lax knew who it was for.

Padmé!

Padmé was in danger.

Lax rushed forward, barrelling towards Padmé in panic.

The man with the long tube was slowly raising it above his head. Lax sped up, afraid of what was going to happen.

The man slashed down, a bright red beam of energy appearing out of the tube. It was a lightsabre!

As he was about to strike Padmé from behind, Lax charged into him. Knocking both of them to the floor, the lightsabre rolling away.

Lax scrambled up, noticing the person with the blaster about to fire, at him! Lax tried to dodge, but he knew he was too slow.

When the person was just pulling the trigger, they were hit from the side with a fist to the cheek.

His head snapping to the side, he flew for a few metres like a ragdoll, blown away by the pure force to the ground where he lay still, unconscious. His hood had fallen, revealing it to be a…

Kaleesh!

Lax ignored the coincidence for now, instead looking at the source of the hit, before gaping in surprise.

It was Padmé, who staring at the man with shock as he flew.

Lax continued gaping at the unexpected event. He didn’t think that Padmé was weak, but to hit a person that far…

His attention got attracted by the person with the lightsabre standing back up. His hood had fallen, revealing him to be a Zabrak.

The Zabrak looked at him in hate, calling the fallen lightsabre to his hand with the force.

Lax paled, grabbing Padmé by the hand, pulling her back, “We have to go! Now! To the pod”

Padmé nodded in fear, swallowing heavily as the zabrak approached them slowly, as if torturing them with his presence.

Running back to the pod, where Anakin and his mother were waiting as they stood there, scared. Lax grabbed them, hurriedly shouting, “Get away from here! Go to Qui-Gon. Do not come after me! I’ll be fine!”

His mother tried to reject him, but Lax cut her off, looking into her eyes, “Mom. Go. I love you.”

Shaking her head in defeat, his mother kissed his head, before grabbing Anakin and running off.

Lax tore his gaze away from them, trying to think of a way to distract the slowly approaching Zabrak, who was confident in his victory. His eyes lit up as he noticed the small droid that was still standing still on the seat.

Lax drew it attention by tapping it on the head in hurry. As the droid looked him curiously Lax pointed at the Zabrak, hoping this would work, then saying two simple words, “Get him!”

The droid’s response was simple and elegant. It launched itself at the Zabrak, catching him off guard, likely because he ignored the fact that a droid would dare attack him.

Lax seized the brief window of time that the droid gave him. He jumped into the Angel, pulling Padmé with him to sit behind him.

Starting the engines, Lax started forward, slow at first, but gaining speed; past the furious Zabrak who had kicked the droid to the floor, holding it down with an invisible… force.

The zabrak lifted his lightsabre to slash the irritating bug to pieces.

Lax saw the helpless droid as the lightsabre came cutting down at it. He stretched his hand forward in a futile attempt to grab it from metres away.

However, at that moment, the feeling came back. It appeared first in his heart, before rushing to his arm; leaving a trail of warmth behind. It seemed to escape from his arm, travel through the air, before Lax could **_feel_** it wrap around the droid, pulling it towards him.

Subconsciously, Lax managed to catch the droid as it flew to him, as he sat shocked at what he had done. The implications of what he had done.

Next to him, Padmé pinched his arm, snapping him to attention, just in time to turn and avoid crashing into the stands “Pay attention to where you’re going!”

Lax nodded, controlling the Angel to leave the race track as quickly as he can. They were quickly distancing themselves from the zabrak.

For a moment Lax thought, they were free, but that thought was discarded when a blaster bolt slammed into the Angel, very close to him.

Turning Lax managed to see a few aliens on speeders, chasing them and shooting blaster bolts at them.

Lax sensed danger, causing him to move his head to the side, just dodging the bolt that would have hit him.

Next to him Padmé was trying to hide behind the body to cover herself from blaster fire.

Lax shouted at her, “Padmé!”

She turned to him, raising an inquisitive eyebrow, shouting “What?!”, trying to make herself heard over the rushing wind.

“There’s a blaster in the box at my feet! Take it out!”

Padmé nodded, bending over him take the blaster. It was the blaster that he had looted from Grievious’s body.

“Do you know how to sho- “Lax’s question was cut off, the moment when Padmé shot, hitting a person off their speeder on her first shot.

Padmé winked at him, grinning, “Leave it to me!”

Lax grinned, fully trusting her, before he thought of something, “We need to get off Tatooine!”

“How?!”

Lax smirked, “I know a place!” before his attention was attracted by an approaching speeder. He turned sharply, smashing towards the surprised alien.

Together they worked in a team, Padmé shooting any speeders that tried to come close and Lax picking off any others by smashing into them.

“Lax! There’s a problem with the back of the Angel!”

Lax turned, hoping he had heard wrongly.

He hadn’t. One of the blaster bolts shot by their chasers had hit a power relay, resulting in sparks shooting out… and affecting the main power of the Angel.

They didn’t have a lot of time. The Angel’s power would soon be unable to let them fly anymore. He had to get to their destination quickly.

Luckily, they had reached it.

The Mos Eisley spaceport.

Slowing, Lax manoeuvred the Angel through stalls and throngs. Missing hitting people by mere inches. The speeders behind them weren’t so lucky. Some of them had crashed due to colliding with people or stalls.

Ahead he saw something that was fit to be his target.

A Bellbulab-22 spaceship. Fast, but still big enough to fit the two of them. There were two versions of this model. The starfighter model and the luxury one. This was the luxury version. The owner was nice enough to leave the ramp down.

The speeders were gaining on them, they wouldn’t be able to escape easily.

“Padmé! We’re getting off there! Get ready!”

She nodded in return, still focusing on firing at the speeders. Lax was impressed, she had shot down over a dozen by now.

Lax turned burst into the bay where the ship was at, sharply turning while braking to come to a stop only a few metres away from the entrance, blocking it slightly.

“Let’s go!” he shouted as he and Padmé jumped out of the Angel.

They rushed into the ship, the small droid following Lax. Padmé stayed behind at the ramp to suppress their chasers. While Lax went to turn the ship on and fly away.

While entering through the ship, Lax bumped into another person on board. Unexpectedly, it was also a Kaleesh. What was it with this species and him recently, thought Lax as he remembered Grievious?

Lax leaped at the Kaleesh, power and the Feeling filling his body, his arm cocked backwards.

With a flash of light, Lax punched forward, hitting the Kaleesh on the chin. Sending it sprawling to the floor, knocked out.

He picked the Kaleesh up, before throwing it out of the ship onto the ground outside.

Lax rushed into the cockpit, looking for the button to start the ship up. He froze when he noticed something. He had no idea where it was!

Grimacing, he looked around, trying to figure out where it was. There was the throttle, the autopilot, the steering, the guns. His focus was broken as he heard a large boom from outside.

Looking outside for a short moment he saw that the Angel had exploded, covering the entrance in debris and flames, but he panicked slightly as could see the chasers were still coming closer.

Lax calmed down. There was no use in panicking. He could fly this, but he just needed to find the… ignition.

“Remember, the ignition is next to the autopilot.”

Qui-Gon’s words. Could it be…

Lax looked at the autopilot, to the button next to it. Gulping he reached forward in a vain hope.

When his finger had pressed the button for a short moment nothing happened, till the lights in the cockpit came on.

Cheering, Lax called to Padmé, “Get in! We’re leaving!”

Flipping a few switches to pull up the ramp and enable the shields, he slid into the captain’s chair. Grasping the controls, he pulled them out of the bay, gliding out into the open air. Beneath them Mos Eisley lay in all its majesty. Lax drunk in the sight quietly, lost in the beauty of this rare moment. But he managed to recover quickly as the situation reminded him of his priorities.

Lax accelerated quickly, looking to exit the atmosphere as quickly as he could. He could still see from the computer that blaster bolts were hitting them.

Padmé came into the cockpit just when they exited the planets atmosphere, leaving behind the desert planet.

She slid into the co-pilot seat, just missing the droid sitting on the armrest, looking very haggard indeed.

She giggled randomly, causing Lax to look at her curiously, as she said “We’re safe. We managed to escape this hell-hole.”

Lax grinned at her, also laughing deliriously as the excitement and energy of the situation washed away, “It is a hell-hole isn’t it.”

Padmé grinned at him, sitting straight in her seat, “Well, not completely.”

Lax rose a questioning eyebrow at her.

“It let me meet you, Lax” Padmé said as she looked at him.

The computer beeped, drawing their attention, indicating the hyper drive was ready.

“Where to my Angel?” he asked teasingly.

Padmé drew herself up, creating an air of authority and royalty as she spoke with pride and joy, Lax thought it quite suited her, “To Coruscant. To save my planet.”

Lax nodded, inputting Coruscant as the destination. The place where Naboo’s fate would be decided. Where their hope resided, and hopefully his family.

He took one last look at Tatooine. The planet that had been his home for the whole of his short life.

He looked forward, planning to never look back again.

“Here we go.” He said, activating the hyperdrive.

With the rumbling of the engines the stars turned into beautiful streaks of light as they shot forward into the endless depths of space. Leaving behind Tatooine, where the force had set in motion events that would change the fate of the galaxy.

**Comment or do not. There is no try. I had to try.**

**Anyway, tell me what you like and what you don’t.**

**Ciao**


	4. Chapter 4

Lax was looking around the ship for any food, he hadn’t realised it due to the excitement and tension of the day, that he had ate almost nothing.

Well, now that it was calm, he had quickly realised how hungry he was. But he hadn’t found anything yet. The ship was empty, except for a few blasters and vibroblades. Lax had also found something more worrying, a picture of a Kaleesh, one that he recognized, Grievious.

Lax grimaced as he thought about the bounty hunter that had tried to kill him. Ever since his death, Lax had met more and more Kaleesh. One of the people that had tried to kill Padmé was Kaleesh, the only person on this ship had been Kaleesh, and now he had found a picture of Grievious.

Lax was starting to have a strong suspicion, but without proof, he would not be able to back it up and to be honest, he was hoping that he was wrong.

Sighing in frustration, he opened another cabinet in what he thought looked like the kitchen. The room had cabinets and counters on two sides and what looked like a cooker and heater on another. It was empty… again. Additionally, he was worried about Watto and how he had technically run away from his owner. Meaning, an explosion in his body.

“Still looking for food?”, asked a melodic voice from behind.

Lax turned, grinning at Padmé frustratedly, “Yip, but still failing.” Padmé looked good, especially for someone who had almost just been stabbed, shot, and then had stolen a ship after a chase on a pod racer. All she had were a few scratches on her face, and some small singe marks on her arms. She was smiling brightly, lighting up the room, but his eyes were drawn to something in her hand, something he recognized.

A transmitter controller! Specifically, his transmitter controller.

Leaping forward, Lax grabbed onto it from her hand, raising it up to look at it to be sure.

It really was his transmitter! Looking at it, he felt a sense of fear. This small thing controlled his life, it allowed others to control his life. To _own _his life. But disbelievingly, he could see it in his hands.

Shaking slightly, he spoke with a tremble in his voice, “Where- where did you get this?”

Padmé smiled even brighter than possible, “When you won, Qui-Gon had already gone to Watto. He came back and gave it to me, just before I was attacked. I realised what it was and made sure it never left my sight.”

Lax spoke with tears in his eyes, trembling even more, “This means…” he broke off, unable to say it.

Drawing him gently into a hug, Padmé spoke softly in his ear, “You are free, Lax.”

Lax froze at that sentence. Free. What he had always wanted to be, ever since he could remember. It drove him to strive to work, to win, to do anything to become free.

Finally, he couldn’t take it, tears appearing out of his eyes, as he drew Padmé in further. His tears matted Padmé’s hair, but she didn’t say anything; just silently holding him up, supporting him. With a heave finger, he pressed the button that deactivate the explosive inside him.

He was free. Nothing felt different physically, but mentally, Lax could feel a heavy burden being lifted of his shoulders. Finally, he was no slave working for Watto, forced day in and day out to work for little pay. He was no longer an object, but…

A person.

He was a person now, and Lax could barely take it as he struggled to process this moment. The moment that he had been waiting for.

They stood there for what felt like hours, Lax revelling in the warmth of freedom, holding Padmé tight, his source of support and comfort. The only noise the slight humming of the hyperdrive generator.

Softly, he murmured, “Thank you, Padmé. Thank you.”

“No, thank you Lax.” Padmé replied, drawing back to look at him in the eyes. Her hazel eyes were glinting with warmth and hope.

Lax tried to refuse, but he was cut off by Padmé silencing him by putting her finger to his lips.

“You helped me escape the storm. You helped me regain hope to save my planet. You won one of the most dangerous races in the galaxy.” She stepped forward, their faces inches from one another, “You risked your life to save me from bounty hunters and sith. All of this you did for me, expecting nothing in return. This transmitter is my thank you. You deserve this Lax, more than you can ever imagine.”

Lax shakily grinned at her, before withdrawing to look at the controller. This small object controlled his life and death. It represented his key to freedom and the galaxy beyond. This represented a way to a life filled with joy, peace and family.

For now, everything was perfect.

Lax suddenly realised something, shouting out, “Qui-Gon! He knew!”

“What?” Padmé asked.

Lax drew away, turning to pace up and down the kitchen floor, muttering “Qui-Gon. He told me how to start this ship. He knew I would take you with me. If he knew, why not tell us?”

Deep in thought, Padmé mused, “Maybe because he thought we needed to do this.”

“But why? Why not tell us to stay away from the race?” Lax responded.

“Because he knew you and I would be able to escape.”

“What if we hadn’t?” Lax asked as he continued pacing.

Padmé reached out to stop him, softly saying, “He’s a Jedi, Lax. He must know something that we don’t. As well all the time he’s been helping us. Didn’t he help your family get away?”

Lax nodded silently, thoughtfully.

“See Lax. I don’t much about the Force, but so far this trip to Tatooine has shown that it helps me, it will help you.” Padmé determinedly said.

Releasing him, Padmé stepped towards the cabinets, “I know what will make us feel much better.”

Lax looked at her in confusion, “What?”

“Food.” Padmé said as she grinned at him while reaching up to a cabinet.

Lax grinned back, composing himself, still awash with happiness as he put the transmitter in his pocket, “The food definitely isn’t there.”

Padmé smiled at him, “There’s obviously no food in here.” but she kept on feeling around the cabinet.

“Then why are you doing that?” Lax asked inquisitively.

Lax was ignored by Padmé as she seemed to find what she was looking for, pressing down on a small indent on the cabinet, a hissing sound was heard as the walls in the back of the cabinets opened, revealing food as it was pushed into the shelves.

Lax looked stunned, “What?”

Padmé laughed, “Part of the Bellubab-22 luxury model. Food can be preserved better whenever the owner goes away for a while.”

Lax recovered, before realising something, “Then how did you know that and where the button was.”

Padmé just grinned at him, “The Force is mysterious and works in many ways.”

Rolling his eyes, Lax looked for foods, deigning not to answer her, he had a good idea how anyway.

Searching the cabinets Lax quickly found something he wanted to try, Bantha steak. He had always wanted to eat this, but it cost too much and was in little supply in Tatooine.

Turning to Padmé, he asked, “Do you want some?” She must be very hungry too, because he knew that like him, she had eaten very little today.

She nodded her head but laid her hand on his arm when he was about to start cooking, “Don’t you think its better for me to cook instead.”

Lax stared at her, “… why exactly? If I may ask?”

“Because your mom told me stories about what had happened.” Padmé said as she beamed at him beautifully, her hair falling across her eye.

Lax stood still, feeling betrayed, by his own mother no less!

Raising a hand to his heart as if wounded, he exclaimed, “Nonsense. All lies, I tell you. Lies.”

Padmé continued smiling, “So your house wasn’t on fire.”

“N- “

Cutting him off, she continued, “You didn’t burn your table, which was more than ten meters from the kitchen.”

Lax slumped, defeated by Padmé armed with stories from his mother, “When did she tell you this.”

“At breakfast. When you were still sleeping.” Padmé responded as she took out cooking utensils and started cooking, “Now move.” She ordered with a dignified tone.

“Yes, Your Royal Highness the Angelic. As you wish it will be.” Lax bowed as he said so.

“Very well servant. Quick, set the table.” Standing straighter, while trying to keep her face straight… and failing miserably.

“As you wish my lady.” Lax bowed down low, before sweeping to the table in the common area to set the table. Soon Padmé came in with the food, the aroma drifting over and intoxicating Lax.

“Well, who knew that Laxis Skywalker would actually listen?” Padmé said while smirking.

Lax stuck his tongue out in response as he took his plate from her. Sitting down, they ate silently, contemplating. The bantha steak was delicious and Lax had to grudgingly admit, he would have cooked a much worse steak.

“Lax?” Padmé asked hesitantly.

Lax looked up from his plate, as he raised his eyebrow in a questioning manner.

“Can you tell me a story you were told on Tatooine.” Padmé leaning closer slightly.

Thinking for a moment, Lax said, “Its not the happiest story.”

“I still want to hear. Please.” Padmé said with a hopeful face.

Lax found that he couldn’t resist her angelic face, so he answered after thinking for a while, “My mom tried to make us have good memories of when were kids. She read to us, played with us, gave us gifts every now and then…” He trailed off, lost slightly in the memories.

Absentmindedly he said, still lost in his memories, “She used to tell me this story just before bed, The Hopeful Human. I remember that it was about a man who had been stuck on a planet, all alone on a desolate planet, leaving behind his daughter, Talia and grandson, Liraes. But each day he hoped to leave and each day he would go out, look at the sky and look for a ship. While he waited, he built whatever he could imagine: a big tree house he and his sister used to play in, his old home. He built whatever he wanted, and even though he was stuck, he kept himself happy and driven, by remembering those he loved.”

He ate another peace of steak, pausing his remembrance. Padmé was watching him intensely, waiting for him to continue.

“Years passed, around ten, but he never lost hope. He never stopped looking for that ship. And one day… one day that ship came.”

“It was a pirate ship that came crashing down in flames. He searched the ship, looking for survivors, and he found one. A small boy, locked in a room, unable to get out. He was a slave.”

“A slave?”

“Yes, he had been captured on a trader ship by the pirates. The man took the boy and healed him. He took the transmitter out of the boy as well. He asked the boy for his name, but the boy had forgotten his name and most of his memories. When the boy was strong enough, he and the man found all the ship parts, fixed them and remade the ship.”

He paused again as he ate the last bite of his steak, “They left the next day, looking for the old man’s family. They searched the galaxy but found nothing and slowly the man lost hope, the hope that he could find his family. He grew weaker and frailer as each day passed that they could not find his family.”

He lay back in the sofa, relaxing in his memories, “Then one day the old man fell sick. Just as the old man was about to die, filled with pain, his face contorted and his last moments filled with agony, the young boy told him something. He had just recovered his memories and had remembered his name. The boy then told the man his real name, and the old man died in peace, a smile on his face and ready to enter the afterlife.”

Padmé curiously asked, moving to sit closer to him, “What was the boy’s name?”

Lax smiled, “Liraes.”

Padmé gasped, “His grandson.”

Lax nodded in reply, “Yip. The man had died happily, supported by his family.”

Padmé nodded, “That’s a nice story. Where did your mom learn it?”

Lax nodded, leaning backwards, “I don’t know. She told it mostly to teach us and Anakin about the importance of family.”

“My parents told me and my sister stories like that as well.” Padmé said, “They always made me excited for the end of the day.”

Lax laughed, “I loved being a kid. It was much more…” he trailed off in search of a fitting word.

“Fun?” Padmé offered.

Lax grinned at her, “Yes. Fun. Gardulla barely made me do work when I was working for the Hutt. Mostly because of my age. I couldn’t do anything as a three-year-old. Except learn. I followed my mom everywhere back then.”

Padmé leaned back into the sofa, reminiscising, “When I was a young girl, my mom would take me and my sister with her to her work. She was a teacher at university in Naboo. I found it boring, but luckily, I always had a commlink to talk to my sister or friends.”

Lax paused as he was about to reply. Something that she had said had reminded him about something. Something very important to him, but Lax could not remember what it was for the life of him. Mentally, he went over what Padmé had said. Sister, no. University, no. Commlink, no… the commlink!

Jumping up Lax took out the commlink that Qui-Gon had given him, ‘If you ever need to contact me.’ Cursing Qui-Gon again for not warning Lax he fervently looked for the contact details inside the commlink.

Padmé, who was looking surprised at his sudden jump, curiously asked, “What’s wrong Lax? What is that?”

Absentmindedly, Lax said, “A commlink Qui-Gon gave me if I ever needed to contact him.”

In a flash Padmé appeared by his side, snatching the commlink, looking at it with eyes filled with hope, “Are you sure?! Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

Lax raised his hands to profess his innocence, “Hey! I just remembered, it was a busy day yesterday. Saving a woman and all.”

Padmé flashed a quick grin at him, before returning to the commlink. With interested eyes, Lax watched as she worked. After a few seconds, she managed to do something.

A voice rang out of the commlink, Qui-Gon’s, “Miss Padmé. How pleasurable to hear from you again.”

Padmé sighed in relief, “Qui-Gon, you have no idea how good it is to hear from you again.”

“As it is to hear from you too Your Majesty.” Qui-Gon’s reply was simple, but effective as Lax looked at Padmé in shock. If Qui-Gon called her that, and he was no joker from what Lax had seen. Then..

She was a queen. All this time Lax had been talking with a queen. No wonder she looked like royalty and acted like one often, dignified and elegant. Lax coloured slightly as he realised his teasing ‘Your Highness” had actually been real.

Padmé winced even though Qui-Gon could not see them, “You found out.”

“Yes, your handmaidens were quite hysterical when we returned without you.” Qui-Gon replied calmly as Lax continued to gape at Padmé. You could sense the quiet reproachfulness hidden in his words.

Before Padmé could reply, another, unknown voice cut in, quite sarcastically, “Hysterical is an understatement. We were lucky that we did not get kicked out.”

“Obi-Wan! Enough. Go and look after Anakin and Shmi.” Qui-Gon’s voice warned.

Lax perked up at the sound of his mother and brother’s names, deciding to talk to Padmé about the previous revelation later. Stepping closer to the commlink, Lax quickly said, “Master Qui-Gon, are my mother and brother alright.”

“Ah, there you are Laxis. Yes, your family is safe and sound, and we are landing at Coruscant soon.”

Lax slumped into a chair, relief washing over him. His family was safe. After so many years of trying he had finally done it. His family were no longer slaves, but free people who could enjoy their lives.

Looking up he saw Padmé smiling at him. Weakly he smiled back, still awash in happiness.

“Thank you Master Qui-Gon. Thank you.” Lax said happily.

“It is the duty of the Jedi to help others. You do not need to thank us.” Qui-Gon replied.

“But, Master Jinn.” Lax continued, this time more seriously, “Why didn’t you tell us what was going to happen? We know you knew.”

Qui-Gon was silent for a second before he spoke, “Truthfully, I do not know Laxis. The Force suggested to me what to do. I only followed its will. I have learned to trust the Force blindly.”

“What if it had gone badly?” Lax asked with rising anxiety in his voice, “What if we had died?”

“As I have said, I trust the Force. It would not tell me to give you those things if it did not want you to survive.” Qui-Gon replied unruffled.

Padmé cut in, “I trust Master Jinn Lax. It all turned out well, and even I kept secrets. We have to continue. We’ll be in Coruscant soon Master Jinn. Then we can start.”

“Milady…” Qui-Gon almost hesitantly said, “I believe that coming to Coruscant is not in your best interests.”

Padmé raised a dignified eyebrow, again emitting that air of royalty. An air she rightfully should have, “And why is that Master Jinn.” She said coolly. Lax winced, Padmé was angry, which was not a good sign.

“Because you are in danger.” Qui-Gon replied, seeming to ignore the danger present in Padmé’s voice.

That bought Padmé to a short stop, confused she ask, “In Coruscant? The capital of the Galactic Republic?”

Qui-Gon’s voice came out, softer this time, “Yes milady. It seems as if a bounty has been placed on you.”

“That has happened before Master Jinn.” Padmé seemed dismissive, “I am sure I will be fine.”

“Well…” Qui-Gon’s voice came out, hesitating at the beginning, “Its quite a large bounty.”

Padmé raised her eyebrow, even though Qui-Gon could not see it, “Large? How large?”

The other person from before, Obi-Wan, answered in place of Qui-Gon, “You are currently the most popular women in the galaxy, milady. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were visited by the most notorious bounty hunters in the galaxy. 50 billion credits are quite the sum after all.

Padmé paled dramatically, shock and fear clouding her face, with a slightly wavering, “Did the Trade Federation place the bounty?”

Obi-Wan answered again, “Yes, milady.” He paused to let Padmé absorb the information, before continuing, “Therefore we believe that best thing for you to do is to stay away from Coruscant.”

Padmé stumbled back into a chair, desolation overtaking her, her face covered in sadness, “But- but how will I find help if I am not on Coruscant.”

Qui-Gon answered this time, “We shall present your case on your behalf. But your highness, I believe that not much will be done. The Trade Federation have a large bloc in the senate and will stop the matter from receiving much attention.”

Quietly, Lax stepped forward, through the flashing light rays produced by hyperspace. He bought Padmé into a hug, not the Queen, but the young woman trying to save her people and planet, willing to fight the whole galaxy if they must. For what seemed like eternity he held her, clutching her supporting her. Around them the ship rumbled quietly, speeding towards a destination that would do them no good.

“I’m sorry.” Lax whispered in her ear softly, “I really am.”

Their attention was regained by Qui-Gon speaking again, “However, Queen Amidala, as Jedi we cannot let your people suffer.”

Padmé perked up in his embrace, a slight hint of futile hope appearing on her visage.

Qui-Gon continued, “I and my Padawan swear that we will help you, and if the Force wills it so will the rest of the Jedi Order.”

Padmé collected herself, “Thank you Master Jinn. Your support is truly welcome. However, I cannot let you face an army by yourself. Without an army to support us we cannot take back Naboo.” Sadness and desolation entered her voice again at the end.

“Milady,” Obi-Wan’s voice came, “Does Naboo have no army?”

Padmé shook her head, murmuring, “Unfortunately not. We are a peaceful people and were not prepared for the invasion at all. The only things close to an army on Naboo are the security corps, and the… Gungans!” She shouted in excitement, shocking Lax slightly.

“Padmé?” Lax asked in curiosity, wondering what had excited her so much, especially about Gungans, who if they were all like Jar-Jar, would not be something to be excited about. However, he could feel the excitement, hope, and strangely confidence, emanating from her.

“The Gungans have an army!” Padmé shouted in excitement, “Not a very advanced one, but still an army. If we can convince them to fight with us; we may have a chance to take back Naboo!”

“The Gungans?” Obi-Wan asked sceptically, “They are not extremely advanced and battle-oriented. Do they not hate other Naboo residents as well. Are you sure that they will fight for you?”

“No.” Padmé replied honestly, firmly, “But if there is even the slightest chance. Then I will do whatever I can to save my people. With or without the Jedi.”

“It shall be with the Jedi then.” Qui-Gon said, at the same time as Obi-Wan said, “We will fight with you, Your Highness.”

“Thank you, Master Jedi.” Padmé said as relief coloured her voice, “I shall not forget this.”

“It is our duty, Your Highness, no need to thank us.” Qui-Gon replied, continuing he said, “We shall meet with the council on Anakin and his mother first. Then we shall go to Naboo. We will have to meet there.”

Padmé replied, “Yes, Master Jinn. We will meet you there. Ask Jar-Jar to take you to the sacred place. He knows where it is.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Qui-Gon replied, “And may the Force be with you and Laxis.”

“And with you as well. Padmé returned, as Lax said, “Goodbye Master Jinn. And say hello to my family from me.”

Qui-Gon said, “I will. We will hopefully be at Naboo in three days. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye” Lax responded.

With a small sound, the commlink shut off. Leaving Padmé and Lax standing in the common room, around a table, lost in their thoughts.

“Lax?”

Lax turned to Padmé, saying, “Yes, Padm- I’m sorry, Your Highness.” He quickly corrected himself, remembering the woman’s station.

Padmé smiled gently at him, “Padmé, please. You are my friend and I will never make you call me that. Although you can skip the Angel part.

“Ok. Yes, Angel then.” Lax grinned at her, ignoring her final words.

Padmé rolled her eyes, but was still lightly blushing, something that she had done a lot since meeting him.

Regaining her calm, she asked quietly, “Are you sure you want to help me?” Her voice carried a slight hint of hope.

Lax smiled at her, stepping forward to hug her, “Of course I will Padmé. How else can I brag that I’m friends with a queen.”

Padmé laughed in his embrace, joy filling her, “Friends? More like servant.”

Lax drew away and patted her shoulder, slightly mockingly, “A queen should not see herself as anyone’s servant.”

Swatting his hand away, Padmé laughed, deigning not to respond to him. Lax was glad to see the earlier sadness and worry he felt from her disappearing slightly.

“Well, let’s get to Nabo-“

**Thumpppppp**

The ship lurched suddenly, coming out of hyperspace, throwing Lax and Padmé to the side, unable to stop themselves from moving. They kept on rolling as the lurching continued. After a while, the ship stopped moving and they managed to stop themselves.

Standing up in a rush, Lax sprinted towards the cockpit, Padmé following him. Entering the cockpit Lax stopped in shock as he gaped at what he was seeing.

Three ships were in front of them, and they were busy firing at each other!

Wait. They weren’t fighting each other; two ships were shooting at the same one.

Next to him Padmé muttered angrily, “Pirates. We’re stuck in a hyperspace lock, no one can enter of leave through hyperspace.”

Lax slid into the captain’s seat, “Then let’s turn around then, to Naboo.”

“Yes, let’s do that…” Padmé trailed off as she seemed to be looking at something, “Lax, move the ship!” She shouted out urgently.

“Why?” Asked Lax, “We’re far from the ships.”

Padmé’s response was simple, she pointed to the side for Lax to see himself.

Following her finger, Lax saw a dark shape approaching them.

“Is that what I think it is?” Lax asked, futile hope filling his voice.

“The Trayax.” Padmé responded quietly.

The Trayax! One of the biggest scourges in the galaxy. A pirate ship well-known for capturing and robbing any ships they saw. Death was a common theme on their raids. The ship’s image was often displayed on the holonet.

And now the Trayax was coming for them.

“We can’t leave the area, they’ll just shoot us or catch us in their tractor beam easier!” Lax said, “We have to go to the fighting ships.

Padmé swallowed heavily, thoughts flashing through her mind. They were stuck between one of the most dangerous pirates in the world and a battle between. But… what if?

Swiftly Padmé jumped into the Co-pilot seat, taking command of the controls. With a almighty push, she heaved the ship forward, streaking towards…

The battling spaceships!

“What are you doing?!” Lax asked in concern, unable to understand why she was going towards the spaceships.

“We have no chance of escaping past the Trayax, and instead we’ll be shot or boarded.” Padmé said, as she focused on the sight ahead, “Those ships can cover our escape when they realised that the Trayax is closed, and they start shooting it to protect themselves.”

Lax nodded as realisation dawned on his face, “I’m impressed.” He said appraisingly.

Padmé flashed a quick grin at him, before refocusing on escaping the Trayax.

Steadily, they approached the battle. Starfighters were flying everywhere, and Padmé had to dodge the wreck of quite a few.

“We need to get through that battle.” Padmé said determinedly, before releasing the controls to Lax, “I can’t fly well. We’ll be shot down as soon as we are spotted. You need to take the controls Lax. You’re a much better pilot than me.

Lax nodded silently, assuming charge of the ship. They were about to enter the battle. Luckily, they were in a Bellubab-22, it might be a luxury model, but at its core it was a starfighter.

With a slight smile, Lax thought of something before turning asking Padmé, “I think we should call this ship, Angel. Don’t you think so?”

Padmé rolled her eyes, before swatting his head slightly, “Focus Lax.” Before she turned to leave.

Nodding, he turned to look forward. He breathed in, centring himself, focusing. This was life and death. If they were shot down, then they had almost no hope of survival.

Determinedly Lax focused on that Feeling. The Feeling that had helped him many times before. And now, it would need to help him before. With a rush of warmth the Feeling came, overwhelming him

So, the plan?

Survive.

Quickly, they were spotted by a starfighter. Laser beams flew past the, missing them by a few feet.

Lax pulled the Angel right in a sharp turn. Dodging out of the way of following beams. The starfighter that was turned to follow them, tracking its target.

With a loud beep the Angel informed Lax that their chaser was locking on to them to deliver them a gift. Via Ion Torpedoes.

Lax grinned, feeling alive, muttering, “No you don’t.” Energy was being coursing through his body, awakening all his senses and as a sharp burst clarity rushed through his body.

Wrenching the Angel upwards, Lax swiftly turned the nose of the Angel to their chaser in a smooth flipping motion, pointing at it from above.

As the ships flew at each other the enemy fighter had adjusted itself and hit them once during the manoeuvre, lowering the shields by ten percent.

Lax moved to dodge the following shots again, twisting the Angel to move quickly to the side, still flying straight at the other ship. They were in between the middle of the fighting ships by now.

“Padmé! Now!” Lax shouted at Padmé who had situated herself in the gunner’s chair at the back.

With a roar of sound and light Padmé shot at the approaching fighter, managing to hit it twice on its wing before it flipped to the side, shooting at them at the same time. It was smoking slightly, indicating that it was close to destruction.

A few shots hit the Angel before Lax could move to the side. Shields were down to 50% by; Lax had to destroy the ship now.

Flicking a few switches Lax readied the ion torpedoes, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The ship was growing larger by the second, as it came screeching at them. Glowing beams of energy coming out to strike the Angel.

Lax managed to dodge most of them, but a few hit the Angel, lowering their shield even more. They could not break off, because otherwise they would never shake this fighter.

He focused, allowing the Feeling to come over him again. He would need its help to fight this; and Lax found comfort in its soothing warmth, allowing him to ease his fear of death and capture. He had only been free for a day, even less. Lax hadn’t even seen his family yet, his free family that was waiting for him.

And Padmé. Padmé… needed him and he would not fail her.

He would not die!

With a crescendo of noise and clarity, Lax fired the torpedoes, at the same time as the fighter did as well. The two torpedoes were heading directly towards them, streaking at them in a blistering scene of death. They were coming to fast to dodge to the sides, but Lax saw that there was a largish space between the torpedoes; not wide enough to fit the Angel in when it was horizontal. But what if it was vertical?

Their torpedoes intersected, barely missing each other. Lax pulled right, turning the Angel on its side, allowing the torpedoes to skim past the plating, missing them!

Lax’s torpedoes didn’t miss. They hit the fighter on the cockpit, causing it to explode, sending projectiles everywhere. Lax quickly made the Angel pull up, dodging the debris that was flying towards them.

“Good job, Lax!” Padmé cheered from the gunner’s seat, shooting at nearby fighters. And she was a good shot. From the computer, Lax could see that she had hit three fighters.

“Thank you, Your Highness! I live to please!” Lax shouted back teasingly.

Fixing his eyes upon the other side of the battle, Lax rushed forward, intent on escaping.

Quickly, they came close to the edge, destroying some starfighters along the way. Which had the unpleasant result of their shields being at 5%.

“We’re almost there Padmé” Lax shouted, dodging some more enemy fire, “Just a little bit mor-“

**Bang**

An ion torpedo came out of nowhere, hitting one of the Angels engines in a burst of fire and heat before Lax could react, even with the warning from the Feeling. The engine’s cover peeled back, revealing the power coils-that were on fire- and the backup power generator.

With a loud sputter, the engine stalled, forcing the Angel to fly in a downward spiral, flying with only one engine.

Frantically, Lax flipped a few switches, trying to divert all power to the leftover engine. However, all he got were messages repeating the same thing.

“All power has been lost. Damage to power relay control."

With a sinking face, Lax tried to think up solutions. The power relay control managed all power outflow from the engines, and if it was working the ship could easily stabilize.

But it wasn’t working. They were crashing down, and he knew that this meant that their chance of escape would be almost non-existent.

But what if the-.

**Bang**

Another torpedo hit the Angel, knocking Lax forwards into the controls. With a loud thump, Lax hit his head onto the controls, causing black spots to appear on his vision. He sagged to the ground, unable to keep himself from falling. He lay on the floor in a stupor, his head a vision of pain and confusion. He could barely think and see.

“Lax! Lax!” came a voice from above.

Groggily, Lax opened his eyes, managing to see Padmé appear in his vision. She was worriedly holding him up. Her beautiful eyes were filled with concern and they bought some comfort to Lax. She emanated feelings of warmth and hope, drowning Lax in it, allowing him to bask in its glorious heat.

More and more blackspots started appearing in his vision, starting to fill it up. Shakily Lax managed to grin before he blacked out, falling forward into Padmé’s soothing arms. Unaware of the shaking ship he was in.

**Sorry that this one took longer. A lot happened this week, but next chapter should be on time and better.**

**Cya**


	5. Chapter 5

**Enjoy the Chapter**

_Italics- Huttese_

Noise and pain came crashing down on Lax as soon as he woke up. His head was throbbing badly and a sharp pain from his leg was knifing into his brain. The world seemed blurred around him, a dull… colourless. His head was ringing and Lax could feel something on his face. Something seemed different, his right eye was hurting, hurting a lot.

Blinking, he struggled to sit against the wall next to him, as he tried to get rid of the black spots that covered his vision, while raising up his hand to feel what was on his face. It felt sticky… congealed.

Gulping he slowly lowered his hand to see what was on it.

Blood.

A droplet of blood ran down his tanned hand, leaving behind a red trail that glistened in the light.

Shaking himself, he tore his gaze from that glistening trail. There was a dull pain emanating from his right leg. Looking down he saw a horrifying sight.

His leg! His calf had a blood-soaked bandage around it, trying to stop his bleeding with futility. Already, he felt a bit weak from the blood loss. He needed help.

Looking around, he noticed that he was in a…

Cleaning storage room?

Lax confusedly looked at a durasteel container in front of him. On it a smiling twilek was holding a similar canister and letters were appearing next to her, dumbfoundedly he muttered out loud as he picked it up, “Clean your floors with this spray, or there’ll be spores. But remember don’t breathe me in, or you’ll be done in. Jola clean.”

Momentarily he sat there, shocked at the utter incompetency of the person who came up with the slogan and warning. Carefully he placed it on the shelf next to him, in case it broke open suddenly and poisoned him.

Looking around more he saw even more bottle of the Jola Clean. There were other products as well, he even saw some products for starships and oxygen masks that allowed you to breath for an hour. There were no windows so Lax had no idea where he was, but at the opposite end of the room he managed to see a doorway.

Slowly, he stood, holding onto the shelf to support himself. Steadily he pulled himself fully, trying to ignore the pounding headache he was feeling.

Swallowing heavily, he stepped forward, but as soon as his foot touched the floor his leg buckled. Lax crashed against the floor, laying there in a groaning heap, head and leg clouded in pain.

Gritting his teeth, he struggled to stand upright, shifting most of his weight onto his uninjured leg.

Limping forward, Lax headed towards the door, seeking to find out where he was.

Agonisingly slow, he passed more of the Jola Clean, Lax was slightly confused why someone needed so much. Maybe the owner was a hoarder.

Finally reaching the door, Lax pressed on the door control, opening it with a swish to reveal…

A rodian!

Lax blanched as he recognised the attire of the rodian. He was a smuggler. And smugglers weren’t well-known for their mercy.

For a moment they both stood there, staring at each other. The rodian had an expression of shock on his face, while Lax’s fear started to grow.

Gulping, Lax summoned a nervous smile on his face, saying, “Hell- “

The rodian moved before he could even finish. In a flash, Lax was hit successively, first in the throat then chest.

Lax flew backwards, crashing into the shelves with a loud thud. Stunned, he could barely move as the rodian came closer, a grin playing on his face. His hand was resting upon his blaster that was strapped to his hip.

Unable to do anything, Lax watched with fear as the rodian leisurely drew his blaster, towering above him like his executioner.

His sharp teeth smiling at Lax, the rodian bought the gun to bear on Lax. Slowly, his finger squeezed the trigger. The only thing Lax could see was that ominous barrel, the harbinger of his death. Lax steeled himself, determined not to let the rodian see his fear.

If he died, then at least his last moments won’t be fearful.

Mockingly, the rodian said, “Goodbye, I’ll make sure the cook uses spices to make you taste bet-“

**Wham**

Out of nowhere a durasteel container hit the rodian in the side of the head, cutting him off. He flew sideways, crashing against the shelves- his gun landing next to Lax- revealing the person who had hit him to be…

Padmé!

Lax had never seen a more beautiful sight in his life. She had several small cuts on her head and arms, but otherwise she looked perfect. Her hazel eyes were sparkling, her lips gracing him with a beaming smile.

Padmé leaned down towards him, worryingly firing off questions, “Are you okay? How’s your leg? Did he hurt you?

Lax tried to grin at her in reassurance, but he figured it must have come out as a grimace by the look she adopted. “My leg’s fine Padmé. Just a little cut.” He tried to convince her.

“Let’s check your leg then.” Padmé said disbelievingly, bending closer to his leg.

Lax was about to respond when he saw a sight that filled him with horror.

At the door, another smuggler aiming at Padmé’s back and pulling the trigger!

Quickly, Lax unconsciously picked up a container close by, that Feeling overcoming him again, throwing it up in the air in a seemingly random direction- nowhere close to the smuggler- just as the smuggler shot at Padmé.

With a resounding blast the blaster bolt hit the container in mid-air, smashing the container against the wall above Lax.

Shocked, the smuggler stood there, unable to believe what had happened for a short moment.

However, he managed to recover quickly, raising his blaster to shoot again. But just as the smuggler was about to shoot, another bolt hit him in the face, knocking him over onto the ground where he lied still.

Stunned, Lax looked at the shooter. Padmé was holding the blaster from the first smuggler, the barrel glowing slightly from the heat of the shot.

Padmé looked tired as she sat there. The blaster fell from her suddenly powerless hand. She sagged against the wall, breathing hard.

Swallowing, Lax asked her, “How?” He had no need to continue, there was almost no possible conceivable way that Padmé could have picked up the blaster, turned and aimed in that short time span.

Padmé shook her head, “I don’t know.” She paused, thinking back, “It all happened so quickly. I can barely remember. All I remember is shooting, not thinking.”

Lax looked at her thoughtfully. Did that mean she had done it unconsciously? How? Padmé was a queen who likely had barely held a gun in her life. To be able to do what she had done unconsciously. It was almost impossible.

Quietly they sat there, thinking, before Padmé asked him, “The container. How did you know where to throw it?”

Lax shook his head wordlessly, unable to answer. He still had no idea. All he remembered was the Feeling. Lax was still confused on what it was. It had first helped him against Grievious, guiding him in killing the Kaleesh. It had helped him numerous times after that. And now it had helped him again. It was almost as if it was his guardian angel, a term he had heard from the smugglers on Tatooine.

Grinning, Lax shook his head. No, it wasn’t his guardian angel. Padmé was his guardian angel. She had saved him twice in the past five minutes.

Slowly, he tried to stand, unwilling to stay in this room when it had already been found by two smugglers. There was a high chance that there would be more coming, especially due to the sound of blaster bolts. He had a suspicion on where they were. But he needed to confirm it.

“Where are we?” He asked Padmé, figuring that she would know as she had seemed to have explored the area.

Padmé replied as she helped him stand, holding onto his arm to stop him from falling, “One of the spaceships in the battle from before. When we were shot, and you fell unconscious. I had to take us somewhere remotely safe. I made us crash into one of the ship’s hangars, luckily it was a maintenance one and was empty, took you and hid you in the safest room I could find. One of the rooms where they wouldn’t look.”

“Good job.” Lax praised her, receiving a winning smile from her, “But, do you know how we can leave? Are there any escape pods?”

Padmé shook her head, “All of them are monitored and need codes to use. Anyway, it would be suicidal to go out in an escape pod. We would be shot down or captured. We would be like a duck in a hunting party.

Lax raised an eyebrow at her, “A duck? What’s that?”

Laughingly, Padmé answered, “A bird on my home planet. It means we would be hunted for sport. I’ll show you a duck one day.”

However, she quickly sobered, “We still need to find a way to leave. We need a ship and the security room I entered had the protocols for leaving on any ships in the hangars. We need clearance codes first, and they are double checked by the presiding officer.”

Lax was confused, “What do you mean? Smugglers don’t have officers. They’re freedom lovers. No hierarchy except for the boss and thugs.”

“Not these ones. There are officers listed in the manual and generals.” Padmé replied.

“Sounds like an army system.” Lax pondered, before realising something, excitedly he asked Padmé, “How damaged was the Angel.”

“Not much, but the generator’s thermal regulator was damaged, and while the engines are fine, the power coils to them are destroyed. As well, the parts we need to fix it are in the centre of the ship.” Padmé replied, “We can’t use it to leave.”

“The generator and power coils? A quick fix then. We don’t need a fully functioning one. Only one that can keep the engines running. Other systems can be switched off. I can pilot it like that.”

Surprised, Padmé asked, “You don’t mean you want to fix a ship on a spaceship full of smugglers who know where we’ve landed?”

“Is the battle outside still going on?” Lax asked.

“Yes.” Replied Padmé with a questioning tone.

Lax smiled confidently, “Then we have a short time where they will only send a few people to fix the ship. We can take care of the people they send and fix the ship before the battle ends.”

“We still need the parts though.” Padmé said exasperatedly, “And the middle of the ship has a lot of security. I saw them on the security holos.”

“Then we take them out or drive them out.” Lax smirked, “We have all we need to do that here.”

Confusedly, Padmé asked, “What are you talking about?”

Lax limped towards a nearby shelf, “There’s ventilation throughout the entire ship. And while they are programmed to stop most harmful toxins, they can be programmed to let some chemicals pass through.”

“And how are we going to programme the system to allow our gas? Where will we even find toxic gas?” Padmé asked in confusion at his actions. “Or do you want us to crawl through it? You do know that they are too small for even babies at some points, right? And there are lasers, many lasers.”

Grabbing something from the shelf, Lax threw it towards her in answer.

Catching it, Padmé looked at the object, “Why did you give me a space mask?”

“Catch!” He called out to her, throwing something else to her. She managed to catch it just in time, just before it flew past her.

Padmé looked at this object again, “What’s this?”

Smirking at her, Lax answered, “Jola Clean. And the cleaning product this ship uses in its ventilation.”

Swiftly, they managed to set up what they needed. Lax made sure that they were wearing space masks that worked as they placed the Jola Clean containers next to the ventilation entrance. He also made sure that they were carrying spares. Halfway through Padmé forced him to sit down as she changed his bandage. Lax was shocked at how good she was at this. She also gave him a stim to help his blood regeneration. He was quickly thankful when he stopped feeling dizzy.

“You ready?” Lax asked Padmé, “We’ll have to run three minutes after we open the Jola Clean.”

Padmé nodded her head, before suddenly asking, “Why does a ship need this much cleaning products? Do you think the owner loves collecting these things? There is enough here for at least 10 star ships this size.”

Lax laughed in response, “Well, at least it helped us this time.” Glancing around one more time he saw something that he thought should be pretty helpful for what they were going to do.

Limping towards the wall where he had been thrown, he picked up the discarded blaster that Padmé had used. Looking it over, he didn’t say any obvious problems with it. Taking the dead rodian’s belt Lax was shocked at the quality of it. It appeared to be covered in fur, and from the feel of it, it wasn’t synthetic at all. It looked to be dyed and it was extremely soft. This was a very expensive belt.

Looping it around his hips, he quickly put the blaster in its holster. He tried drawing the holster to see how quickly he could do it and was surprised at how easy it was.

Turning to look at Padmé, he saw that she had taken the other smuggler’s blaster and belt. She copied him and practised drawing the blaster. She seemed to learn it quickly and after only a few tries she was doing it easily.

“We have to go Padmé.” Lax said, preparing himself for what they were about to do.

Padmé nodded at him in acceptance and together they went to the numerous containers and started opening them.

Hisses continuously sounded as gas escaped from the canisters before entering the ventilation shaft.

Putting on their masks, they waited as the room was quickly filled with toxic gas. The gas was making their vision murky, but that was both good and bad for them. Bad because they couldn’t see. Good because the smuggles wouldn’t be able to easily see and shoot them.

“3…2…1” Lax counted down, before he shouted, “Go!!!!”

In a flash they shot out the room, entering the murky hallways. Padmé had memorised the path to the room they were heading to and luckily it was on the same floor.

Rushing past door after door, they managed to see the shadows of what seemed to be smugglers coughing or laying on the floor. They tried to ignore the bodies, but sometimes they crashed into bodies and were forced to pay attention to them. Lax’s leg was sending spikes of pain throughout his body, but Lax overlooked it. Knowing that if he stopped, he would be caught.

Hurriedly, they came closer to storage room But Lax’s heart almost stilled as they crashed into a group of four smugglers wearing space masks.

Reacting quickly, Lax drew his blaster and fired two shots at the smuggler in front, still running forwards. One missed, but the other managed to hit the smuggler in the shoulder, spinning him hard around into the person behind him. Together, they fell on a heap onto the floor. One moaning in pain and the other unconscious.

Next him Padmé managed to hit another smuggler in the throat, leaving only one standing, still drawing his blaster. Lax smashed into him with a roar before he managed to shoot at them.

Falling onto the floor, they rolled forward from Lax’s momentum. Coming to a stop they drew apart. Springing to his feet Lax tried to hit the smuggler, but the smuggler managed to hit him in the stomach as the he hit the smuggler in the face, cracking his mask.

Doubling down Lax was hit in the face by the smuggler’s knee that had risen as the smuggler had punched him. With a resounding crack, his mask broke, exposing him to the gas.

Coughing from the gas, Lax feel to one knee, one hand holding onto the floor, while another rested on his boot.

His boot! Above his boot, strapped to his leg he kept something. Something he had wished not to use again. Forcing himself to stop coughing, he held in his breath, but the gas was burning his nose and eyes. Reaching into his leggings he grabbed onto the object.

Before him, he managed to see the smuggler approaching him once again to attack. His foot was rising to kick Lax.

Spring forward, Lax dodged the kick, catching the smuggler by surprise. Holding a tube, he hit the smugglers belly. On the other side of the smuggler’s body a gleaming blade emerged, already swallowing streaks of red.

Letting go of the knife, Lax fell backwards, scrabbling for the extra masks on his body as black clouded his vision from the lack of oxygen. Finding one, he managed to put it on before he blacked out. He almost cried when he could breathe again.

Laying there for a second, he regained his breath. But another silhouette appeared from the gas. It was Padmé.

Rushing towards him, she grabbed onto him, hauling him up. Faintly, he could hear her shouting something. Half-carrying him, she continued rushing towards their destination. She paused slightly, along the way, bending down slightly, before they continued on.

She thrust his blaster into his hands, as he grasped it unconsciously. Slowly, they reached the storage room where the parts they wanted were. By that time, Lax had managed to recover somewhat. Well, at least he managed to feel the excruciating pain emanating from his leg.

Opening the door, they rushed in, looking for the parts they needed. Lax had described what they needed to Padmé before, so they managed to quickly find them. Two small parts, a few coils and a thermal regulator for the generator. Stashing them in a bag, they quickly exited, rushing towards the maintenance hangar. However, he paused as he saw something that he knew he had to take before continuing.

As they came closer, they saw more bodies on the floor. But through the gas they managed to see some smugglers that were awake and had masks on as well. They managed to slip by as no one could clearly see them and thought they were smugglers. However, just as they were about two hallways from the hangar Lax was overcome by a feeling of danger and urgency.

Lax managed to respond quickly, grabbing Padmé and running into the room next to them. It was almost completely bare, except for a table and two chairs.

Raising a hand to his lips in a shushing motion Lax stopped Padmé from talking.

Through the open door, he could see a group of ten smugglers sweeping through the hallway. Tensed, they waited as the smugglers came closer. They were checking the rooms as well.

Panicking Lax tried to look for a safe spot where they could hide. Spotting a door next to them, they silently rushed through it, trying to enter before the smugglers went into their room.

They managed to close the door and hide in the corner next to it, hugging each other, just as the smugglers entered the room. Lax and Padmé froze, hoping that the smugglers wouldn’t check this door.

Footsteps echoed in their ears as they waited there. Steadily, they were growing louder and louder, meaning that soon they would be discovered.

They still did not move, not willing to give the smugglers even the slightest hint they were there.

Fear swallowed them as they heard the door hissing open. Through the gas Lax could see the faintest outline of smuggler’s leg stepping out on the doorway.

Closing his eyes, Lax was filled with despair and hopelessness. All this hard work, all this effort. And now? They would be seen, caught and maybe killed. Lax would never see his family again. Padmé would never save her planet. He deepened his hold on Padmé, trying to comfort her and apologize silently.

They had failed. He had failed.

_“Jusat, come here! Quickly! We found traces of them!”_ A voice shouted out from the hallway, stopping the smuggler.

Lax opened his eyes in amazement as the smuggler retreated from the door, not seeing them at all. They stood there for what seemed to be forever as the footsteps of the smuggler slowly became softer and softer. Till it…

Disappeared.

Lax almost numbly fell to the floor, barely able to stand. He couldn’t believe their luck. Joy filled him as he realised what this meant.

They hadn’t failed.

Joyfully, Padmé hugged him harder, also unable to believe how lucky they were. That other smuggler had saved them. If he hadn’t shouted, then…

They both tried to forget the other possible outcome, instead revelling in their joy of still having a chance, of still having hope.

Grasping Padmé’s hand, he tried to silently walk out of the room, back into the other room, then the hallway. But she did not move as she seemed to be looking at something in shock.

Confusedly, Lax followed her gaze, before his heart leaped into his throat as through gas he saw a horrific sight.

It was a human. A human that had been strapped to a tilted bed and was inserted with multiple tubes. He had a mask on, but his body was covered with burns. Burn scars appeared in multiple places, and Lax could see almost no place unburnt.

Next to him, a tray of tools stood. Vibroblades, screws, knives. Welders…

Lax swallowed as he realised what room they were in. A torture room.

Surging forward, both he and Padmé reached the man, unwilling to leave him behind and in the hands of these barbaric and vicious smugglers.

Unstrapping the man, they also took out the tubes, recognising it to be a nutrient tube, which was used to feed patients in med bays. Lax had to swallow bile from the horrific scars that the man had on his body. Anger filled Lax at why the smugglers had done this. This was a human, a living being, yet he had been treated like an animal.

Together, they slung the man’s arms over their shoulders. He was unconscious, meaning that they had to carry almost all his weight. Lax ignored the rising pain from his leg due to this action.

Slowly, they exited into the hallway, trying to be aware of any more smugglers. They saw none until they managed to reach the hangar.

Entering, they saw the outline of the Angel crashed onto the floor, smoke rising from the power coils exposed on the wing and the generator. Through the exit to they saw that the battle was still going strong, with bolts and explosions filling the air.

A group of three smugglers stood at one side, wary of any approaching person. They hadn’t seen Lax’s group yet, as they were hidden behind some crates and the gas made it extremely hard to see anything more than ten meters away.

Lax sighed in relief as he saw that these three were the only smugglers in the hangar. They could handle three people.

They sat the unknown man against the wall, trying to stop his burns from coming into contact with the wall.

Lax turned to look at the smugglers and was about to draw his blaster when a wave of dizziness overcame him. He fell backwards into the wall, unable to steady himself otherwise. Sliding down the wall, he came to a sit next to the man, his heading pounding.

Padmé flashed to his side, checking his bandaged leg and head. She shook her head before telling him, “Rest Lax. I’ll take care of them.”

Lax tried to refuse, but he was cut off by Padmé firmly ordering him, “Rest. Trust me.”

Nodding his head in assent, Lax watched as relief washed over Padmé’s beautiful features. Turning around, she drew her blaster from her belt and started aiming at the smugglers.

She stilled, ensuring that her aim was accurate. She took a deep breath and… shot!

Lax heard a bloodcurdling scream from where the smugglers should be. She had hit one! Shots immediately fired back, but Padmé had already ducked to the side behind a crate. She stood again, firing more shots, but they didn’t seem to hit, as Lax didn’t hear anything.

His heart jumped when a bolt flashed past Padmé, missing her by just a few inches. She needed to move!

She did. Padmé whirled around the crate, raising her blaster as she did. The moment she could see the smugglers she fired. A loud thud echoed around the room. Another smuggler was down!

The remaining smuggler seemed to disappear, no more bolts were flying at Padmé. Warily, she looked around searching for the smuggler. She walked back to him and the unknown man, likely trying to make sure that they were safe.

She had crossed half the distance, when a shadow smashed into her, taking her by surprise and falling with her to the floor. It was the remaining smuggler, a Keshiri, Lax was surprised that there were still some alive. Both of their blaster flew away, landing to rest at the side. Lax was shocked when he saw that the smuggler’s blaster was smoking. There was a hole in the side, meaning, Padmé had shot it.

Tearing his gaze away from the blaster, he looked at Padmé and the smuggler again. His eyes widened in disbelief at what he was seeing.

Padmé had pinned the smuggler to the floor and was hitting her in the head, trying to knock him unconscious. The smuggler used her legs to kick Padmé away and struggled to rise to her feet, evidently gasping and coughing from the gas leaking into her cracked mask.

She took another mask from his leg, swiftly exchanging it for her cracked mask, just as Padmé stood up.

Instantly, they ran at each other, ready to beat the other down. They came closer and closer together, the Keshiri bending down as if to tackle her. But as they were about to crash into each other, Padmé jumped.

Lax’s eyes widened even more in shock, if that was even possible. Padmé curled her arms around the Keshiri’s head, using her momentum to whip around the Keshiri’s body, then use her extra gained momentum to flip the Keshiri over and smash her into the ground where she laid still. Padmé rolled on the ground, towards him, stopping next to the blasters.

Quickly, she picked one up, bearing it to the Keshiri and firing! She shot twice, hitting the Keshiri in the stomach and head, instantly killing her.

The only noise that sounded was the hissing of the gas as Padmé stood there. She looked windblown and filled with adrenaline. She looked at the Keshiri’s body, then turned to look at him and the man, ignoring the body for now.

As she came closer, Lax could only say one thing, “Wow…”

Padmé grinned at him, breathing heavily, “Mandatory self-defence training as Queen of Naboo.”

Lax nodded absently, still shocked from the sight he had just seen. She had destroyed the Keshiri

“Are you okay to stand?” Padmé asked, concerned.

Lax nodded in reply, grasping her hand to pull himself up. He stopped as dizziness overcame him but managed to stay standing till the dizziness disappeared.

Leaving him, Padmé pulled up the man, holding him up alone, she turned to face him, ordering him “Go fix the ship! Quickly! We don’t have a lot of time!”

Lax nodded, picking up the bag of parts and limping towards the Angel. He passed the body of the two other smugglers. He noted that they had both been shot in the chest. He had to admit that Padmé was very accurate with a blaster.

Padmé followed him, carrying the tortured man. Lax turned to her, saying, “Put him inside the Angel. In case we need to leave quickly.”

She nodded in reply, taking the man up the lowered ramp. Lax headed for the generator and the wings. He first focused on the wings, truing to replace the power coils as quickly as he could. They had to do this quickly. More smugglers would come as soon as they realised that these smugglers were dead.

The gas was also starting to disappear. The smugglers were likely venting it to space.

Swiftly, he took out the damaged coils, wincing slightly at the damage that the rest of the wing had obtained. It would fly, but not well. They would be able to go into hyperspace, but only once.

Padmé came down the ramp, turning to him, “I put him in the gunner’s seat. You can watch him from here, to see if anything bad happens to him, like he has a seizure or wakes up.

“We can fly.” Lax said, “But we can probably only survive hyperspace once.”

She nodded grimly, before saying, “At least we can leave.”

“Catch!” Lax called, throwing her the bag they had taken from the storage room, “You know what to do with them.”

Padmé looked inside, before grinning at him, “Oh. I know. The rooms just next door.” Before a concerned look overcame her, “But what if someone comes.”

“We still have time before they realise that these smugglers aren’t alive, and there’s still a battle going on outside.” Lax assured her, “Anyway, these people deserve it for what they did to that man.”

Padmé nodded at him before running off, exiting the hangar.

Time passed quickly as Lax fixed the ship. The coils had been replaced, but just as he inserted the new thermal regulator, the hissing of a door opening sounded.

Lax froze as he turned to see a group of five smugglers standing there. Lax knew that he couldn’t take them on in his current condition, he had thought they had more time. But just as they saw him and were raising their blasters a large bolt hit them. They were thrown apart, flying in all directions. One of the smugglers had lost both legs due to the shot.

Lax was stunned as he realised where the shot came from. Next to him the Angels cannons hissed and whirred, cooling down from the shot. Lax’s stunned gaze turned to look through the glass at the shooter.

The unknown man sat there, anger displayed across his features. His gaze turned to look at Lax, their eyes meeting. Lax could see pain and anger in his eyes but was confused when he saw self-loathing sadness as well.

Swallowing his questions, Lax nodded to the man in thanks. He had just saved Lax’s life, even though they didn’t know one another.

The man nodded back, before letting go of the controls and collapsing back into the seat.

Lax refocused on the generator, ensuring that the thermal regulator was working. The time for questions would come later. First, they had to leave and for that they needed a working ship.

Lax whirled around as another door hissed open. Relief washed over his features as he saw that it was Padmé.

She looked at him inquisitively, motioning to the site of the five dead smugglers, “What happened here?”

Lax grinned weakly at her, saying, “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.”

Padmé accepted that, asking hopefully in return, “Can we leave?”

Lax’s grin turned into a smile as he beamed at her, “Yip, Your Majesty. Have you finished your thing?”

Padmé smiled back, teasingly, lightening the horrible situation they were in “Yes, servant. Let’s leave.

Lax closed the panel to the generator and together they headed up the ramp into the Angel.

Settling into the pilot chair, Lax groaned in relief at finally being of his wounded leg. Resting for only a moment, he turned to Padmé, “To Naboo?”

Padmé frowned, shaking her head, “We can’t. There’s a blockade, which will catch us if we go there. We need to fix the Angel first.”

“Where will we go then?” Lax asked, “Not Corusca-“

His was cut off as the Angel shook, hit by something.

Whirling to look to the side, Lax saw some smugglers shooting at them. The Angel had no shields. They had to leave!

Looking at Padmé, they both reached a mutual understanding. Pressing the ignition, the Angel rose to float in the hangar. Shots were still hitting the Angel. Luckily none had penetrated and hit anything important. Yet.

Accelerating forward, they shot out of the ship into the space battle.

Instantly, they were set upon by two ships. Both shot at the Angel but Lax managed to dodge to the side, making all their shots miss.

Next to Lax, Padmé hurriedly tried to think of where to go. She muttered to herself, “Telos… No. Corellia… No.” She slammed her hand on the chair, “I don’t know where to go!”

Lac couldn’t reply, entirely focused on dodging the shots that the ships fired at them. Only one hat hit so far, and luckily no critical systems were damaged.

“Courkrus.” A hoarse voice sounded out from behind them, “Go to Courkrus. We’ll be safe there.”

“You!” Padmé gasped next to him, “How did you get here?”

It must be the unknown man. Lax couldn’t look behind him, but he was pretty sure it was him.

The man spoke again, “It doesn’t matter. We’ll be safe in Courkrus. I promise you. You can fix your ship there.”

Lax muttered to Padmé, “He saved me in the hangar. Shot those five smugglers.”

Next to him, Padmé hesitated, before making her decision. She inputted some coordinates into the navigation computer. Turning she said to Lax, “To Courkrus it is.”

Lax nodded, accelerating to away from the battle, turning to Padmé for a short moment he said, “When the light goes on, click it.” Before turning away, knowing she knew what to do.

He blanched as the computer warned him that they were being locked on.

Swiftly, Lax started executing aerial manoeuvres, trying to break the lock. Flips, twists, corkscrews and dives couldn’t do anything, and Lax could only watch in horror as the computer announced they had been locked on. They were still inside the hyperspace lock.

“Now!!!” Lax roared, abandoning the plan, they had no choice. Padmé reacted instantly, clicking the button of the detonator in her hand. Linked to the thermal detonators placed in the engine room of the ship.

Behind them the ship blew up in a supernova of glorious flame and debris. The debris hit the ships following them, destroying them instantly. Lax dodged to the side, following his instincts and the Feeling.

All the debris missed them, not even a single scratch appeared on the Angel as Lax weaved side to side dodging all the debris.

At that moment the hyperdrive light blinked on. Meaning that they had escaped the hyperspace lock. In a flash, Lax flipped the switch.

Taking them to hyperspace.

The stars turned into continuous beams of light, forming a tunnel around them. They disappeared from the battle, outdistancing the torpedo in a millisecond.

Lax sagged in his seat, almost unable to believe it. They had managed to escape a ship full of smugglers, fix the Angel, save a man from being tortured further, blew up the ship, and then escaped the remaining ships including the Trayax.

And now they were going to Courkrus.

He lay there for a while. Next to him Padmé was elated at their escape.

Turning to him, her smile grew, “We made it Lax! We made it.”

**Thanks for reading. I hurt my hand, so this took a while, so sorry.**

**I’m starting to head away from canon. Be aware, canon is more of a very faint guide for me. I want to change a lot of it. So just be aware of that.**

**Hope you enjoyed.**

**Cya later.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Its been a while since I updated. The main reason is because I’m writing exams, so I wrote this sporadically in this period. So sorry. The next update should be in a quicker timeline. Just again sorry.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

“Laxis Skywalker!”

Lax winced as a voice shouted out from behind him- freezing him in his steps. He had been found!

Gravely, he turned around, looking at the source of the voice, preparing himself for his impending doom.

“Yes?” Lax asked, deciding that acting confused was the safest course of action.

The reply came quickly, “Yes?! You almost died less than a day ago, and now you’re up?! Don’t you think that’s a bit of a problem?!”

“…No?” Lax tentatively said after a pause, with what he hoped was a winning smile.

“Well,” a deadly calm voice replied, “I believe that it is a PROBLEM!!!” The volume rose wildly at the end, almost making Lax want to whimper.

Straightening, with as much confidence he could muster, Lax tried to calm the demoness, “Padmé. I’m fine, no bleeding or injuries. A wise man once said, if there’s no blood, then there’s no worries.”

“Stop passing off your own words as words of wisdom.” Padmé replied with anger still vibrating through her voice.

“I promise they aren’t my words.” Lax said desperately, “They are under no circumstances my words, someone said them before.”

Of course, he hid the fact that it was Watto who had said them. Padmé didn’t need to know that. What was the saying that was so commonly used. Ahh. Ignorance is bliss. What a wonderful saying. People who were ignorant were usually happier, and didn’t he care for Padmé. Yes, he did. So therefore, shouldn’t he keep her ignorant of the fact Watto had said it?

Lax was almost proud of his ability to convince himself, but the burgeoning smirk was wiped of when Padmé stalked to him, grabbing his arm and forcing him to a chair close by. With a thump he landed on the chair, trying to ignore the fact that a mad woman was facing him.

“Mad!!!” Padmé shouted angrily, hinting to Lax that he may have said that out loud, “No what is mad is a person who was near death less than a day ago! That is mad!”

Lax nervously tried to minimize the damage, “Mad? I meant slightly emotional.” Seeing Padmé’s growing anger he continued on swiftly, “And that’s a good thing. Its show’s your human and exciting. Speaking of exciting have you heard that new song on the holonet. Now that is exciting.”

“Lax.” Padmé said quietly in silent anger, stopping him in his tracks, “Stop talking, and you don’t have a holonet.”

Nodding his head wildly, Lax sat still, not talking, hoping that she had calmed down a bit.

Satisfied, Padmé lifted his leg to her lap, checking the area where a glaring wound had been but a few hours ago, throbbing with the pulse of his life.

“Does any place still hurt?” Padmé asked him, eyeing the spot.

Shaking his head, Lax said, “It stopped hurting quickly.” Angling his head to meet her eyes he continued, “Everything’s fine Padmé. I still have three arms and one leg. I didn’t lose any of them.”

Would it be that bad if he lost a limb? He had seen some pirates at Mos Eisley with mechanical arms and legs. One of them even had a metal nose. Lax wondered who came up with the idea for a mechanical nose. They must have been bored out of their minds. Anyway, mechanical limbs were strong, much stronger than the arm or leg of any human. That would be so useful if he would ever need to arm wrestle a Wookie. But, would it be worth giving up an arm. Lax was pretty attached to his body, his entire body.

“Three arms and one leg?” Padmé’s amused voice broke his line of thought, “Just a hint Lax, but that’s not what you’re supposed to have.”

Lax summoned a surprised expression on his face, “Really?!” Shaking his head in mock denial he said, “But that’s what I told Anakin and he believed me.”

Padmé laughed at that, imagining the scene, before trying to regain a serious expression, but failing- and quite spectacularly, “You’re a horrible joker Lax. You know, that right?”

Smiling at her in response, Lax was about to answer when his attention was attracted by movement at the door.

It was the unknown man. He had been sleeping when Lax had awoken, resting from his injuries likely. Lax shuddered to think even think about what must have happened to him.

He looked pretty good now. The bacta had clearly helped as had the fresher. His short dark-brown hair looked clean and his blue eyes were slightly sunken. He looked gaunt and malnourished, likely not having eaten much in his imprisonment. He was hobbling slightly, proof of how even bacta couldn’t heal him quickly. There were faint scars on his face and arms, and from what Lax had seen, there were many more that were hidden.

Alerted by his silence Padmé looked up, following his line of sight. She gasped when she was the man, gently setting down Lax’s leg, before rushing to help the man into a seat.

Settling into the seat with a relieved sigh, the man looked at Lax, scrutinising him. Lax hated being scrutinised, he always felt uncomfortable, no matter what.

For what seemed like minutes they sat in silence, Lax on one seat, the man opposite him and Padmé in the seat to the right of Lax, forming a triangle.

“Why’d you help us?” Lax asked, deciding to break the silence.

The man raised an eyebrow, returning with “Why did you help me?”

“Because we couldn’t keep you in that ship if you were being tortured.” Padmé answered, before continuing “Are you complaining that we helped you?”

The man barked out a laugh, “Complaining? Definitely not. I just didn’t think anyone would come to save me when I’m stuck in the middle of a well-defended ship filled with smugglers and pirates. Only a drunk pair of Ewoks would do anything like that.”

“Ewoks?” Lax asked, not understanding the meaning.

“A woolly dwarfish species living on Endor.” The man explained, his scars twisting in a grin, “You could attack them with a whole armada, and they would still try to attack back. Crazies, the whole lot of them.”

Lax nodded in understanding, before leaning forward slightly to say, “So now that we have that out of the way. Bother telling us your name?”

Leaning backwards in his chair the man replied, “Jyke Ryzle. And yours?”

“I’m Padmé Naberrie,” Padmé said, before pointing to Lax, “And this is Laxis Skywalker.”

Jyke frowned, “Naberrie? You’re from Naboo aren’t you?”

Lax quickly tensed, alerted at Jyke’s question. How did he know? IF he knew that Padmé was the queen and of the bounty on her. Then things might quickly get out of hand. Slowly, he took grasp of the blaster strapped to his leg.

“How did you know?” Padmé asked inquisitively.

Jyke laughed, “I lived on Naboo for around six years. You lot have distinct names. Makes me want to kriffing swear every time I hear one.”

Lax barked out a laugh, but still kept a tight grip on the blaster, “I agree completely with you. I’m sure they’re obsessed with “e”. Padmé, Sabé, Dormé, Rabé.”

Swatting at Lax, Padmé said with conviction but a tint of humour evident in her voice, “Only uncivilised brutes would say something like that. Names from Naboo are perfectly good.”

Grinning, Lax returned his attention back to Jyke, curious about something, “So why were you captured by the smugglers?”

Jyke sobered immediately, a dark expression appearing on his face, his scars furrowing, anger vibrating throughout his entire body, “I was going to a planet in the Outer Rim for work, but one of people I was with sold me out to the smugglers for my job and they caught me while I was sleeping!”

Taking a deep breath, Jyke composed himself, calming himself from his spurt of rage. Closing his eyes, he sat there, breathing in slowly and deeply. Lax was shocked to notice tears appearing in the corner of his eyes.

Opening his eyes Jyke blinked his bleary eyes before continuing, “They didn’t start immediately. They made wait, often in darkness…” He paused, seemingly struggling for words, “That was the worst, the loneliness, the darkness… the lack of hope. I never thought I would get out.”

Solemnly, Lax rose to walk over to Jyke. Clasping his soldier, he offered a comforting smile, “We’ll you did and if it wasn’t for you, I would be lying dead in that ship right now. When we get to Courkrus you can leave to do what ever you want. Some holiday planet maybe.” Offering a weak smile Lax tried to lighten the mood, “Just a hint, don’t go to Tatooine, there’s nothing but sand there and like my brother Anakin loves saying, everyone hates sand.”

Grinning slightly, Jyke shook his head, “No, I have some work I need to do on Courkrus. I know some people there. People who I trust. It’s why I told you to go there.”

Next to him, Padmé said with a raised eyebrow, “Courkrus. You have friends on a planet infected with smugglers, slavers and all other manner of scum.”

Jyke raised his hands in surrender, “Hey, like the saying goes, ‘A person can never choose his friends.’”

“You do know that’s not the saying right?” Padmé said, “It’s about family, not friends.”

Jyke smirked at her, “Then I only know one thing about friends. Especially mine. They’re kriffing good at cheating in sabacc. Also, you forgot the endless catacombs that Courkrus has.”

“Oh yes.” Padmé sarcastically said, “Let’s not forget the endless and huge catacombs that mean your capital city is a hair breath away of falling into a crater.”

Jyke shrugged, saying “It’s not me who built it. So, don’t take that up with me. At least they are a good place to hide and can be entered everywhere.”

Smiling, Lax strode towards the door, “Well then, rather than listening to this extremely informative conversation. I need some sleep. Being wounded really takes all the energy out of a person. Who knew?”

Heading to his room, a rather comfortable room, painted dark brown, with a double bed, a closet and a desk at the wall. Lax leaped onto his bed, sinking into the comforting mattress. Lying there, he was struck with a stark realisation. In the space of a month, he had gone from being the slave of a junkyard owner in Tatooine, to killing a person for the first time, to winning a pod race and then being forced to flee for his life with Padmé in a stolen ship. Then using that stolen ship, they were caught in the middle of a battle between much, much bigger ships. On one of the ships, they had found a tortured man, gassed and entire ship, then exploded said ship into a million pieces a short while later. Now they, were headed to Courkrus, a planet known for being rife with smugglers and everything that could exist in the underworld.

Thinking back to what started it all, Lax took out a small box as he lied there. Opening it, he took in the sight of the blue jewel before him, its crystalline shell sang to him. A melody of light and shadows dancing on its surface.

Running his finger across it, Lax noticed how warm it felt. It almost felt like it was pulsing, pulsing with an extreme heat. What was this sapphire? Why was it worth millions? Why had Grievious wanted this jewel?

Lax didn’t know and he likely never would know. But what he knew was that it was worth a lot of credits and if Lax could sell this… Then his mother would never need to work to keep them afloat, he and Anakin would never have to scrounge for parts anymore.

Life would be better.

“Lax.” A soft voice washed over him, breaking his chain of thought, “Are you okay?”

Sitting up, Lax looked at Padmé standing in the door, a half-frowning, half-smiling expression on her face, smiling he answered, “Yip. Just thinking.”

“Thinking?” Padmé asked, coming to sit next to him as he lied there, “About what?”

“The past few weeks.” Lax replied, “How much my life has changed.”

Padmé nodded in understanding, “A lot has changed hasn’t it? A few days ago, I was the queen of Naboo. Now, I’m running for my life while all the galaxy’s bounty hunters are after me to Courkrus of all places.”

Lax laughed, as amused at the situation as Padmé was, “Never thought I would leave Tatooine to go to an even worse place.”

Grinning at him Padmé relaxed, a comfortable silence overcoming them. They sat there for what felt like forever, both lost in their thoughts.

After a while, Lax seemed to fall sleep, sinking into the labyrinth of his mind. As he slept, he dreamt of… something?

He was standing in a dark cave, almost indiscernible shadows writhing around him in some chaotic, yet… ordered dance. Eerie winds streaked through the cave, whistling a hair-raising tune that could wake the dead.

Lax tried to move, but it was as though he was almost locked in place, unable to even move an inch except for his head. Straining he tried to move, power coursing through his veins as he vainly tried to move.

**Crack**

Freezing, Lax slowly turned his head to the source of the sound. His heart stopped cold as his eyes rested on a pair of large yellow eyes coming towards him. His heart beating crazily, Lax redoubled his efforts to move as the eyes approached.

Straining his eyes, Lax felt his heart skip a beast as he could finally see the outline of the beast. Two large spikes rose from its head, and glinting teeth was the only part of his body that could easily be seen.

It stalked closer and closer, each slow step emanating a sense of danger and death. As it came closer to him, Lax could see speckles of red in its glaring eyes.

It stopped a few metres away, watching him… playing with him. They stood there, watching each other, Lax still panicking inside, straining to move even an inch.

The wind stopped, quiet surrounded them, as if waiting for something. The chaotic shadows stopped their ordered dance, staying still.

Lax wondered what was going on. Why wasn’t the beast attacking him? It had waited for long, doing nothing. Why was it doing nothin- “

**Whoosh**

Lax froze as a warm breath washed over his neck. Something was behind him! The burst of warm air kept on coming, never stopping.

Gulping, Lax turned his head to look at the beast.

“Lax!”

Just as he was about to see it Padmé’s voice broke through, vibrating through the cave and causing a light to come crashing down on him, leaving Lax only seeing a pair of blood red eyes staring at him.

Jerking upwards to fall of his bed, Lax gasped for breath, adrenaline rushing through his body. His body felt cold, and his heart was beating rapidly in panic.

Next to him, Padmé knelt, placing a worried hand on his arm, “Is everything ok Lax?”

Breathing deeply, Lax nodded back in answer still trying to regain his breath. Standing, he walked to the connected bathroom to get some water. As he chugged the water down, he finally calmed down from the dream. Thinking over it, why had he dreamt of the cave? What animal had he seen in the last moments? What did any of it mean? Lax hoped he would never need to go back.

Returning to his room, he told a worried Padmé, “Just a bad dream. Had a rough time sleeping.”

Nodding, Padmé stopped asking, knowing that he would not want to elaborate further, instead she switched to why she woke him up, “We’re getting close to Courkrus. Jyke said we would be there in 10 minutes.”

Lax dipped his head as he went to the desk to get ready. He took the knife that he had found there before, strapping it to his other leg. A bacta pack was also essential, Lax decided, especially with his tendency to get hurt. Definitely a bad habit.

Together, they exited the room, heading towards the cockpit. Curious Lax asked, “Where are we landing?”

“Vlarnya.” Padmé replied, “It’s the only city that has any spaceport facilities.”

Snorting Lax said, “You mean legal and safe spaceport facilities. I can bet you that every big city has at least some spaceport.”

Padmé laughed, “I’m still not sure Vlarnya’s spaceport is safe, or even legally made.”

Entering the cockpit, they saw Jyke flying the ship. They were already out of hyperspace, cruising towards Courkrus at a steady speed. The planet lay before them, a deep blue covering most of the planet and huge landmasses covering the rest.

Frowning Lax looked at Padmé, “A planet can’t have that much water can it?”

This caused Padmé to fall into a fit of giggling as Jyke snorted in laughter.

“Never seen a planet with water before, have you?” asked Jyke

Shaking his head, Lax replied with, “No.”

“Naboo has much more water.” Padmé said, finally able to speak after recovering from her laughing fit. “It’s one of the most beautiful places in the galaxy.”

Next to Lax, Jyke shook his head, “People from Naboo, all deranged, I’m telling you. Who could ever love that planet?”

Padmé turned to glare at Jyke, challenging him “What’s not to love about it then?”

“The names?” Lax offered, sending Jyke into his own fit of laughter, his scars stretching and causing Padmé to angrily shake her head as she turned away from them, muttering something about men having a complete lack of taste and that she felt sorry for any child saddled with a name given by them.

“We’re entering the atmosphere.” Jyke announced, piloting the Angel to descend to the surface of the planet. As they went down, many other ships flew around them. Cargo ships, passenger ships, starfighters and luxury ships. Each were painted in different colours, surrounding them with a pool of colours. All the ships that you could think of were around them.

Soon, they entered the spaceport, settling down in one of the open bays. Exiting the Angel Lax took a deep breath, already feeling the air to be heavier and less dry than Tatooine. Jyke led them to the manager who would register them.

As they waited in the line for the person in front to finish, Lax looked around to look for any interesting sights.

And there were… quite a few.

In a corner he saw a group Neimodians mugging a group of Zeltrons. Lax had heard of how easy it was to steal from this species. This human-like species with red skin were well-known for being extremely gullible.

Tearing his gaze away, Lax saw a body lying on the floor close to the exit. The body was half-dressed and had been robbed of anything of value. Blood splotches were common in this spaceport. Everywhere Lax looked he saw at least one splash of blood. Reg, green, blue and yellow. It almost painted a quite idyllic picture, just like that picture that he had once seen. What was its name again?

Rainbow. Yes, the walls looked just like a rainbow, except this blood was real and rainbows were a myth. Or at least Lax had never seen one in his life.

“C’mon kid.” Jyke muttered next to him, directing him towards the counter.

Approaching the manager, a Rodian, Jyke coughed out to attract his attention.

Lazily, the Rodian looked up, lethargically saying, “Identity documents and- KRIFF SAKE!”

The Rodian jumped as soon as he saw Jyke, fear crossing his face, “What are you doing here?!” He shouted out.

Jyke smiled lazily, “And that is your business how?” he asked rhetorically, before saying, “Blood for gold and gold for blood.”

Confused Lax looked at Padmé to see if she understood anything. Seeing her confused expression, he interpreted that she didn’t understand as well. As he was about to ask Jyke what was going on he was stopped in his tracks when Jyke shot an intense look towards him, telling him to stay quiet.

Burying his curiosity, he returned to the conversation. Jyke was busy talking, “And I want to meet with my friends. Do you know where they are?”

The Rodian swallowed, “Yes, they are at the usual place. The Hytra will soon start.”

Jyke smiled darkly, “Will it now? Why don’t I go pay them a visit?” He then leaned forward into the Rodian’s face, “Or do you think that’s a bad idea?”

Leaning backwards as far as he could the Rodian answered shakily, “I don’t th- think so.”

“Well then,” Jyke said, “then why don’t I go find them then. Oh, and our ship is here, a Bellbulab-22, make sure nothing happens to it.”

Whirling around, he motioned to Padmé and Lax to follow him, leaving behind violently nodding Rodian.

Exiting the spaceport into the crowded streets, Lax quickly caught up to Jyke, “What was that all about? It’s almost as if he knew you.”

Jyke grimaced, “I’m pretty famous around here. Comes with the line of work.”

Raising her eyebrow, Padmé inquisitively asked, “And what is your line of work?”

“Well.” Jyke said, “Just after we quickly visit someone, we’ll go to see why apparently I’m being fired.”

“Fired?” Padmé said, “Why?”

“That’s exactly why we’re going to go to my work after this.” Jyke said, heading down a large road. There were large stalls on the side of the road, selling everything ranging from blood stained clothes to blasters. At one stall he even saw what he was pretty sure were banned intoxicants, such as spice. For someone to openly sell spice. This really was the smuggler’s paradise.

As Lax was walking, he felt almost as if an alarm went off in his head, ringing through his entire body, allowing him to feel the small hand digging into his pockets.

Quickly twisting around, he grabbed the hand, which was connected to a young Twi’lek girl. Her skin was blue, as was her lekku. Dirt covered her tired and withdrawn face; her clothes were ragged. A street kid, Lax deduced, feeling sympathetic to her. He had almost been like her once. She struggled in his grip, twisting frantically to try and wrench her hand from his grip as she kicked.

“Hey. Hey. Calm Down.” Lax said soothingly, trying to calm the panicking girl, stopping her from kicking him, “I’m going to let you go now. Just tell me what you were trying to steal.”

Warily, the girl calmed down, but was still tense as she was ready for Lax to break his promise. As soon as Lax let go of her, she flashed a metre away, out of his reach.

Next to him, Padmé and Jyke appeared, seeming to have finally realised that something had happened.

“What happened?” Padmé asked, warily looking at the young Twi’lek.

“She tried stealing from me.” Lax said to her, before turning to the Twi’lek, “And you still haven’t answered my question. What did you want?”

“It’s not stealing!” The Twi’lek said, an angry expression appearing on her face, before determinedly stating, “I’m only borrowing!”

“Borrowing?” Lax repeated, “And were you going to give what you wanted back to me?”

“…Yes?” The young Twi’lek said after a short pause, not even fully believing it herself, before continuing, “And I really need it.”

“What did you want then?” Lax said, interested in what would make this young Twi’lek try to steal from him.

The girl frowned, hesitating, before finally saying, “The bacta. My sister is hurt, and I need it to help her.”

“Hurt?” Padmé said concernedly, leaning forward to the girl, but stopping as the girl shied away from her, “What happened.”

“A big explosion.” Was the answer, the girl imitating the explosion with her hands, “Big rocks flew everywhere, and one hit my sister. I saw a bunch of Rodians and Neimodians leaving the place later.

Jyke scowled at this, intently asking “Where and when did this happen?”

“The Lioja.” She answered, “And it was a long time ago.”

“How long ago?” Jyke asked, determined to get an answer.

The girl stood there for a while, thinking, before saying, “A month ago.”

“For kriffs sake.” Jyke swore as he stood, shocking the girl, rage obvious in his voice, “They really have grown bold, haven’t they?”

Lax stood there contemplating over what was happening. Taking out the bacta he stared at it, aware of the girl’s eyes that were focused on the pack.

Sighing, he lobbed the packet at the girl, saying, “Use it on your sister. I can get a new one later.”

Quickly catching the packet, the girl quickly nodded in answer, “I promise.” She said, “Thank you.” And then turning to run and disappear into the crowd, her lekku flying behind her.

“Didn’t think you had a soft spot for kids.” Jyke said, grinning at him.

Lax grinned weakly, “I know how she feels, and it can be the worst feeling in the world, watching as your family wastes away in front of you as you are helpless to do something.”

“Well for one,” Padmé said as she watched the girl run away, “I’m proud of you, Lax.”

Smiling broadly at this Lax turned to bow at her, “I aim to please.” Then turning to Jyke he asked, “So where are we going?”

Turning Jyke motioned for them to follow, “We’re close to it, so you’ll see in a minute.”

Soon, they were led to a normal house in the city. The area was clean and most of the people who were here looked clean at least.

Knocking on the door, Jyke waited, excitement evident on his face as he bounced on his heels.

Lax shortly heard footsteps and the unlocking of what must have been at least five locks.

The door opened to reveal a woman that was in her middle twenties. She had long brown hair that was in a long thick braid and rested on her shoulder; although it looked very unkempt and wild. She was wearing what looked like combat gear and there was a blaster strapped to her hip. Her face was a lined with worry and her eyes cool brown eyes were red, indicating she had been crying quite often recently.

“Yes?” The woman asked, her voice cracking slightly, listlessly looking over them. As she looked at Jyke she froze in shock. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was open.

“Jyke,” The woman tentatively asked, “Is that you?”

Jyke who had over this short period of time also started looking tearful nodded, saying, “Yes, big sister, it’s me.”

Gasping out loud, the woman threw herself at Jyke, crushing him in a tight hug, sobbing in his shoulder.

Jyke hugged her back, tears leaking from his eyes as he reunited with his sister. Lax felt awkward watching this, moving slightly back together with Padmé.

Releasing Jyke, the woman looked over him, draining in the sight of him, smiling as she did so. Then she asked, “Where were you? What happened to you? Why are their scars on your face?”

Taking his sister’s hand Jyke said, “Let’s go in and I’ll tell you all about it.” Then turning to Lax and Padmé, “But first, this is Laxis and Padmé and they helped me to get home. They’re the only reason I managed to get home. And Laxis and Padmé, meet my sister Tylie.”

Stepping forward, Lax shook the Tylie’s hand as she said, “Thank you for helping my brother.”

Lax shrugged of the thanks, saying, “It’s no problem. We only tried to help.”

Tylie nodded before turning to greet and thank Padmé. But only to be met with a similar reaction from Padmé.

Jyke then grabbed his sister’s arm, “Let’s go in and we’ll talk some more.”

Entering the house, they were led through a hallway to the living room. On the wall sat a holoprojector, showing the latest news. Holopads were strewn across the table in the middle and there were many pictures lining the wall.

Tylie motioned for them to sit down, before turning her full attention back to Jyke.

“So, where were you?” Tylie asked anxiously, her beaming smile was still plastered on her face.

“Captured.” Replied Jyke, “By Rist.”

“Rist?!” Tylie shouted, leaping to her feet, “But why would h-“ She paused in the middle of her question, falling silent as her eyes widened in realisation.

Faintly sitting down on her seat, she dazedly said, “No. It can’t be.”

Jyke nodded solemnly, replying simply, “Yes.”

“She wouldn’t.” Tylie said, almost hopefully.

“She would.” Jyke replied, dowsing the hopeful expression Tylie had as quickly as it appeared.

Tylie sagged at the simple reply. She sat back in her seat, pain and conflict flashing across her face. Her complexion slowly became paler as time passed. What was wrong? Was something going on? Why was Tylie so pale?

Confused, Lax sat forward to ask, “What’s going on Jyke? Why is Tylie so pale?”

Turning to him, Jyke said, “The person who caught me, Rist, he was introduced by a good friend of mine, Lirae. I trusted her more than most and thought she sent him to protect me. Turned out to be the opposite. He was sent to kill me.”

Shocked, Lax’s thoughts raced as he absorbed the information. But in his heart, there was an inkling, an inkling that was more to the story than he had heard so far. Why would Lirae want to kill Jyke?

Determined to find out he turned to Jyke, “Why would she do that? What would she gain from killing you?”

Grimly, Jyke responded with, “Less competition and more credits and power.”

Taking that in, a suspicion arose in his heart. Where they had found Jyke, why he had been caught, who he had been caught by… Could it be?

“Jyke,” Padmé’s serious voice cut through his train of thought, attracting his attention, “What is it that you do?”

Jyke turned to look at her, seeing a grave expression on her face. Glancing back at Lax he saw a similar one on him. He smiled faintly, “I knew you two were smart.” He paused, “But I thought it would take longer for you to realise.”

“So, you’re a smuggler.” Lax said, confidence in his thoughts.

“Yes.” Jyke said smilingly, confirming Lax and Padmé’s suspicions.

They stood there, looking at each other-deep in their thoughts.

“So, you made us take you to Courkrus. And then what?” Padmé said challenging Jyke.

“Thank you.” Jyke said calmly, a smile still playing on his lips, “And help you if I can.”

Surprised, Lax was taken back slightly at the reply.

“Help us?” Lax asked, “Why would you want to help us? I didn’t know smugglers knew what that meant.”

“My brother’s not the scum you’re thinking of. He knows how to appreciate help and repay it.” Tylie cut in, protective of her brother.

“Its fine.” Jyke said, still calm, “They have the right to be wary. I did hide this from them after all. And they really should be suspicious of smugglers especially.” He turned to face Padmé, smirking deeply now.

“Isn’t that right Queen Amidala of Naboo.”

Padmé recoiled, her hand flying to her blaster as Lax did the same. Jyke raised his hands, “Calm down. If I wanted to tell anyone then I would have already. You don’t need to shoot me.”

Keeping his hand on his blaster Lax asked, “How long did you know?”

“Since I woke up and saw her.” Jyke said, “I saw a picture of her when Rist was talking about her. He really loved talking whenever he was around me. He knew that it annoyed me.” Shaking his head, he continued, “Anyway, I knew since I saw her, but you two helped me, risking your life and the least I can do is help you by keeping her secret. You really need to give her a disguise or something.”

Staring at Jyke, Lax felt something wash over him. A feeling of peacefulness invaded his mind, dowsing any anger that was bubbling there. In his heart, Lax felt as if he knew that Jyke wasn’t lying and was truly trying to help them.

Deciding to trust in his instincts, Lax loosen his grip on his blaster, relaxing slightly. Stepping forward he looked at Jyke, not feeling any danger, only peace.

“I’ll trust you this time, Jyke.” Lax said, “Please don’t disappoint me.”

Jyke smirked, “Depends on the situation really. But I’ll try.”

Turning to Padmé, Lax saw that she had loosened her grip as well, coming to stand next to him.

“Thank you then.” Padmé said, “For hiding my secret.”

“Wait!” Tylie shouted, “She’s the queen of Naboo! The one worth 50 billion credits?”

“Yes.” Jyke said, looking at her, “And we won’t say anything about it.”

Staring at Jyke for a short moment, Tylie silently nodded in acceptance.

“Good. Now that we got over that little piece of information, why don’t we get something to eat?”

“Really?” Tylie said sceptically, “You want to eat instead of talk about Liraes.”

“To be honest.” Jyke said almost sadly, “I don’t want to talk or think about her for a while… And I’m hungry.”

Tylie rolled her eyes, saying, “I always knew that food was the most important thing in life for you.” before turning to get some food, leaving the three of them behind.

Jyke turned to them, “Look around for a bit, go outside or something. We’ll be finished in a bit.”

As he was heading out, he paused and looked at Lax, saying, “We have to talk about your ship.”

“My ship?” said Lax, surprised, “Why would we need to talk about my ship?”

“Its less about the ship.” Jyke said, “And more about who owned it.”

“You know the owner?” Lax replied, “So you know the Angel?”

“Oh yes, but with a much different name. One much more sinister, with an equally deadly owner. But we’ll talk more about that later. After we eat” Jyke said gravely, before leaving the room, the limp still evident in his stride.

Lax and Padmé shared a worried glance as Lax bemoaned, “Why did we have to choose the ship with an owner that makes Jyke talk seriously about them?”

Padmé laughed a bit as she walked to look at the pictures on the wall, deciding to think about that problem later. The picture she was looking at showed Jyke’s family. Lax could recognise Jyke and Tylie, but there was another girl there, older than both. Probably off-planet, especially if she followed Jyke’s line of work.

“They look happy in here.” Padmé said, inspecting the picture, “They must be pretty close.”

Lax moved to join her in looking at the picture, “They seem to be. Did you see how worried she was for him.”

Padmé nodded as she moved onto the next picture.

“Lax!” Padmé whisper-shouted in shock, pointing at a picture.

“Yes?” Lax asked, following her finger to look at the picture. It was of two people, one of which was Jyke. The other was a young human woman, her hair was flaming red and her green eyes could be prominently seen. She was short and lither, only reaching Jyke’s chin, leaning against his arm as they smiled at the camera together.

“Read at the bottom.” Padmé hissed, pointing at a string of text at the very bottom.

“Our memories are golden. From Lirae.” Lax read but was shocked to see the name of the person who had betrayed Jyke.

Looking at the woman in the picture, Lax murmured, “So that’s her. She’s the one who got them to catch Jyke.”

“She tricked him, acted like his friend then betrayed him. All for more credits and power.” Padmé said, disgusted.

“The worst type of friend.” Lax said softly, deep in thought. Did he have a friend like that? Padmé wasn’t and for some reason he knew Jyke wasn’t. The Feeling that had kept him safe for so long had told him to trust Jyke and Lax trusted the Feeling. He hoped he would never have a friend like Lirae, one who would abandon him at the slightest hint of power or credits.

Padmé who had been deep in thought as well, turned to say, “She truly is the wor- “

**Boom**

The wall exploded in a roaring crescendo of plascrete and dust. Lax and Padmé were bowled over by the source of the blast, flung against the far wall. With a thud, Lax fell onto the floor on his back, his breath knocked out of him and his head dizzy.

Dazed, he looked upwards, spots dancing in his vision. He could barely focus on what he saw, and the dust covered most of his vision.

**Boom**

Another explosion rocked the building, shaking it to its foundations. Debris pelted Lax, cutting into him and hitting him with a large force. Above Lax, cracks ran on the roof, threading across it like an experienced weaver. Panic filled Lax as he tried to move, but his movements were sluggish and as soon as he tried to lift his head up, a blinding pain penetrated his head.

The cracks were growing bigger and bigger, soon covering the entire roof. His heart palpitating, Lax watched with bated breath through the spots as it seemed to slow, spreading slower and slower. The cracks seemed to stop growing and the roof looked stable. Lax slowly breathed in relief, moving to stand again.

**Boom Boom Boom**

Multiple explosions shook the house almost simultaneously. The roof collapsed, sending a shower of plascrete onto Lax. He struck out his right arm in a vain attempt to stop it, desperate to survive. Warmth travelled through his arm, impossibly seeming to calm him down, until with a loud crack his arm was hit by a large piece of plascrete and he was flattened into the ground, his breath caught in his chest.

He could barely breath and his vision were almost black due to the spots. He couldn’t move and his left arm was pinned a piece of debris. His face was tilted to the side, looking towards the middle of the room.

The dust was slowly clearing, but his vision was still shrouded in darkness, becoming darker if possible. Lax struggled in a breath, moaning at the pain that shot through his chest.

Somehow, through the darkness he managed to see two silhouettes burst through the door, a Dresellian and a woman, whirling around each other. They were fighting!

The Dresellian stepped onto a piece of debris, slipping on it, loosing his footing for only a second. As soon as he slipped, Tylie whirled around him, punching him heavily in the stomach, doubling him over. She then weaved her arms around his neck, and squeezed!

The Dresellian fell to his knees, scrabbling franticly at the arms around his neck. Tylie held tight, not letting him loose at all. Soon, the frantic struggles grew slower and slower as the Dresellian lost consciousness.

As soon as the Dresellian went slack, Tylie let him go, letting the body fall to the ground in a heap among the debris. She was breathing heavily; soot was streaked across her face and she had multiple small cuts along her face. Her combat gear was torn and ripped, and a large slash ran along her left arm.

Jyke burst through the wrecked door, blood covered him as well, and his limp was heavier and more pronounced. He was carrying a bloodstained knife in an alert position, but relaxed when he saw that Tylie was.

“You’re safe!” Jyke cried in relief, “We need to get La- **Watch out!**”

With a loud hiss, a blaster bolt impacted Tylie in the side, ripping through her stomach as she was pushed back by the force like a ragdoll. With a sharp cry she fell to the floor, moaning in pain as blood flowed from the large wound.

“No!” Jyke shouted, sprinting to his injured sister. But just as he was about to reach her another blaster bolt hit the floor in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

“Don’t you have any manners Jyke?” A woman’s voice rose from the entrance. “Don’t ignore a woman to focus on another one.”

Lax couldn’t see who said it but when Jyke paled at the voice.

Spinning around, he shouted out, “Lirae! Why did you hurt her?!” His voice cracked slightly at the end.

“I never really liked her.” The woman, Lirae, said, “Really annoying. Just runs in the family doesn’t it? I think I get rid of you, but no, instead you come back. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted Rist to finish you off.”

“I trusted you!” Jyke shouted, pain evident on his face, “She trusted you!”

“Stupidity must run through the family as well.” Lirae mockingly said, “Now. It’s time I deal with you myself. Go get him!”

Jyke scowled, readying himself to fight, lifting his bloodstained tempersteel knife up. The blood glistening in the daylight shining through the broken roof.

“No, no, no, Jyke.” Lirae tutted, “Don’t fight. Or else, Tylie might get hurt even further. And you wouldn’t want that now, would you?”

Jyke trembled with anger, his knife in a half-raised position. His face flashed a myriad of emotions, before finally, he sighed in defeat, dropping his knife to the floor and raising his hands.

Two Gamorreans burst through the dust and smoke, punching Jyke across the face so hard he flew to the floor. As he lay spread-eagled on the floor, his hands were bundled behind him and energy constraints put on him. He was forced to his knees as a woman walked to him and looked down at him-Lirae. Her long red hair ran down her back, swaying with each step. She was smirking mockingly, victory evident in her eyes.

“Well, now isn’t this a sight. The great Jyke Ryzle on his knees. We’re going to have so much fun, just like the old days. Won’t it be fun Jyke?”

Jyke said nothing, glaring at her furiously, determined to not please her.

Lirae patted his cheek, “Not talking? We’ll have a lot of time to fix that.” She turned to the Gamorreans, “Take him to the casino.”

Then turning back to Jyke, she smiled pleasantly as she said, “Oh and Jyke.” She pulled his attention to her, “This is for annoying me.”

Raising her blaster, she Tylie in the stomach, next to where she had been shot before. Tylie gasped on the ground as blood flowed from her mouth and more from her wounds. She started gurgling on her own blood as Lax watched on helplessly.

“No!!!” Jyke screamed as he jumped at her, but was held back by the Gamorreans, “Why?! You promised?!”

Lirae beamed, “And I broke that promise. Take him away.”

Then she walked out, as the Gamorreans dragged a raging Jyke after her.

**Hope you enjoyed the read.**

**Tell me what you like and what I can improve upon.**

**So, the story is moving farther away from canon, but remember the movies are more like a guideline for me. I hope you enjoy the story I’m coming up with.**

**Also, if you don’t understand the dream part, then you may realise in the next 3-5 chapters or so.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Au Revoir**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, so I managed to get this one out much quicker. So, there you go. I can still write relatively quickly.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy the read.**

**Klicks-Short for kilometres**

**Viewscreen-Literally just a TV, but much, much better.**

The blood seemed to be endless.

The circle of blood around Tylie was growing continuously as she gasped for breath. Her short quick gasps rang through the air, smashing into Lax’s ears with the momentum of a speeding starfighter. He struggled to move, to get out-to help her.

But no matter how hard he tried… how hard he pulled. It never worked. The pain in his right arm was blinding now, almost overwhelming him. Lances of pain speared through his arm, invading his brain with a sharp swiftness. Somehow, a small bar of durasteel had managed to cover his body from most of the debris, protecting him slightly. Much of the debris has also seemed to fall just to the side of him, missing him by just a few inches. But there were still many pieces of plascrete that weighed down on Lax, making it hard for him to breathe.

The darkness in his vision was receding slightly as well. The one ray of light in this sea of darkness. And somehow, somehow… he felt calm, unworried. It was as if he was not in a life-threatening situation at all. The Feeling was washing over his mind, helping him bear the spikes of pain that was brutally attacking him.

“Is anyone here!”

Lax jerked slightly as a voice shouted out of nowhere. His right arm jostled slightly, refreshing the onslaught of pain. He frantically tried to crane his almost immoveable head as he searched for the speaker. His sudden movements struck him with a new wave of dizziness as the rocks above him shifted slightly, spraying out a new wave of dust, obscuring his view almost entirely of Tylie.

“There!” A new voice shouted, “Nila! Look! Something is there under those rocks!”

Through the gap in the rocks, Lax managed to see a dark shadow flash over to him, coming to rest just next to him.

“Are you sure?” The original voice asked, “Nothing could survive being buried under that.”

A pair of feet appeared in the gap, “I’m sure. It was moving” Suddenly, a face appeared in the gap. It was young boy, a Zeltron. His red skin glistened in the daylight, as his bright blue eyes peered through the darkness.

He gasped as his eyes met Lax’s, widening in shock as he gaped at the sight of Lax’s bloodied body. He took in the sight of Lax being pinned by the rocks and his right arm being bent at a weird angle as his left arm was unable to move.

The face disappeared as he shouted out, “There is someone, a human! And he’s still alive! But he needs help! Quickly!”

“Rate!” The first voice shouted, Lax recognised it, but he couldn’t remember where he had heard it before, “Come help us! We need to get him out!”

“Can’t!”, a different voice replied, a boy’s voice, “There’s another one here! She’s hurt too!”

Padmé! Lax thought, panicking. How badly was she hurt? Would she be okay? Lax needed to see her.

“Ok! Ask Yilt for help when he’s finished with the other one! Let’s get him out Ulta.”

Lax waited, hope bubbling inside him, as he heard the sounds of heavy breathing and rocks dropping to the floor.

“This… is… heavy.” Lax heard the Zeltron boy gasped out, “How much farther?”

The reply came quickly, “Soon, I think.” There was a brief pause, before the voice shouted out in excitement, “There, I think I see him!”

Light burst through the gap as the plascrete was lifted away, blinding Lax. Dazed, he blinked heavily to try and focus on the smiling face that appeared in the gap.

Squinting, he looked up at the face to see a young Twi’lek female with blue skin and… ragged clothes. It was the girl! The girl that had tried stealing from him! The one who needed bacta for her sister.

Confused he stared up at the girl as she smiled at him briefly before vanishing, watching as more and more debris was removed, slowly revealing Lax’s body. The pressure on his chest was lessening dramatically, allowing him to breathe easier.

Finally, with a loud thunk, the last big chunk of plascrete pinning him down was removed, freeing him enough to move. Strenuously, together with the girl and Zeltron boy he removed his left arm from the lump that trapped it. His right arm cried out in pain from the effort, but Lax still pulled.

Slowly, he stood up, helped by the children. As he stood, his knees weakened as he was again struck with a wave of dizziness. He stumbled forward slightly, into the Zeltron boy, who steadied him.

Shakily, he used the boy as support to straighten himself. He blinked his eyes to try and get rid of the residual darkness and focused on the Twi’lek girl.

Hoarsely, he asked, “Why did you help me?”

She smiled at him, her eyes glistening in the light, “You helped me. And didn’t I say I was only borrowing it? I needed to pay you back.”

Stunned, Lax could only form a simple, but honest, “Thank you.”

“I got her!” Another boy’s voice cried, attracting Lax’s attention to the sight of two children, another boy and girl helping a lightly injured young woman out of another pile of rocks. Her clothes were slightly ripped, and her hair was matted with dust, but she looked alright except for a large bump on her head.

“Padmé!” Lax cried, trying to step towards her, but only managing a few steps before he almost fell over. Again, he steadied himself using the Zeltron boy that had followed him, holding onto him tightly to avoid falling down.

His rush had attracted Padmé’s attention as she looked up from thanking the children. Her eyes widened as she saw him. Shock and fear filling her eyes as she gasped. She rushed towards him, a limp evident in her step, but she managed to quickly reach him without falling.

She slammed into him, hugging him tightly as she plastered her form to him. Lax grunted slightly at the pain the impact had caused but weaved his good arm around her to pull him tightly to him. His eyes were watering slightly at the joy he felt at Padmé’s safety.

They stood there silently, drinking in each other’s presence and warmth. After a while, Padmé pulled away to look over his form. Her eyes were creased with worry and she frowned when she saw his broken arm.

“Does it hurt much?” She asked hoarsely, softly grasping his arm to check it, but she immediately stopped when he grunted in pain.

“Not too much. Well not as long as I don’t move it too much.” Lax grinned at her reassuringly.

Padmé sighed in relief, her face brightening slightly.

Turning to the girl, Padmé cleared her throat, “Thank you. Can I ask what your name is?”

The girl smiled shyly, a stark contrast to the dour situation, “No problem!” She shouted quickly, before regaining her composure, saying more surely, “I had to help the people who helped me.” I’m Nila.”

“Then thank you again Nila. I’m Padmé.” Padmé smiled at her, Lax did as well, amused.

“Umm… Miss.” A boy’s serious voice came from the side.

Both Padmé and Lax turned to look at who spoke, but their slightly better moods immediately disappeared at what they saw.

A Rodian boy sat there, his face devoid of smiles as his solemnly looked down. Next to him lay Tylie, but… she wasn’t breathing!

Lax had forgotten about Tylie in the moment, too happy at escaping and seeing Padmé safe. He rushed to Tylie’s side, sliding to a stop and ignoring the pain that the action had caused. Padmé arrived just before him, less injured as she was.

He moved his good arm to her neck, feeling for any pulse! Any sign of life! The slightest hint of a heartbeat would be enough, anything to show that she was alive.

But there was nothing. Neither he nor Padmé could find any sign of life.

Tylie was dead.

“I’m… sorry.” The Rodian boy said, his eyes downcast, “I couldn’t help her.”

Lax’s heart softened slightly for the boy, he tried to smile reassuringly at the boy, “You did more than enough. You tried to save her and that was even more than we did.”

The boy nodded slightly, his black eyes rising to meet his own, still downcast, but less.

Next to him, Padmé had tears leaking from her eyes as she looked at Tylie. Solemnly, she reached over to close Tylie’s eyes, still wide with pain and terror.

She had died in fear. She had died in pain and Lax had done nothing to try and save her. He had forgotten about her the moment that he escaped, instead he had wasted time. Time that could have been spent on Tylie.

Gravely, he stood up, still looking at Tylie’s warm body in front of him, blood was still leaking from her side. Now was not the time to grieve and to blame himself. If Lirae came back or someone else, then they would only be protected by Nila and her friends.

“We need to leave.” Lax said, attracting Padmé and the kids’ attention, “If they send someone back and find us. Then…” He was unable to complete the sentence, but his downcast look at Tylie said enough.

Nila nodded, “We can take you somewhere safe.”

“What about Tylie?” Padmé asked, unwilling to leave Tylie’s body behind. To leave it in this destroyed house with anyone able to get to Tylie’s body.

Solemnly, Lax said, “We need to leave it. We can’t carry it.” He looked her in the eye, cutting off her protest, “I’m sorry Padmé. But we can’t carry it. I’m injured and can’t help you carry it, meaning it will slow us down to much. Nila and kids can’t help you. We have to go.”

Staring into her eyes, Lax saw a brief flash of despair cross it, appearing for only a second before it was replaced by… determination and anger.

“Then let’s go.” Padmé said determinedly before crouching next to Tylie’s still warm body and picking up the knife lying next to the body. Jyke’s knife. The blood was dripping down the knife, running along it till the piercing point. The blood dripped to the floor right next to Tylie, mixing with the circle of blood around her body. Padmé clipped the knife to her hip, all the time trying to ignore the body lying on the floor next to her. Unwilling to look at it and have her resolve stumble.

Lax staggered forward, the pain that he had been ignoring returning with full force to invade his mind. Quickly, Padmé grabbed onto him, steadying him as she worriedly looked over him.

Padmé turned to Nila, still supporting Lax, “Is there anything you have to heal him.”

Nila nodded sadly, her eyes downcast, “I used the bacta pack you gave me on my sister. I’m sorry.” Then brightening slightly, she beamed at him, “She should be alright now!”

Lax tried to smile at her, consoling her, “I gave it to you for your sister. I just need to rest slightly, then I should be much better.”

Nila paused for a bit, a weird expression on her face for a bit before her expression brightened more as she nodded energetically, “Then let’s go. It’s not too far from here.”

Slowly, they exited the room, Lax limping along as Padmé half-carried him, his left arm looped over her shoulders. Both of them were unable to look behind them at Tylie’s body in an attempt to stave off the growing guilt growing inside him.

“She’ll pay for this.” Padmé said, anger and guilt evident in her tone.

“She will.” Lax agreed, but both were unable to say when.

Lax was blinked slightly to adjust to the sunlight blazing down on them. The sky was wide open as spears of light struck at them, a sudden change from the cooler interior of the house. The dust outside had cleared, with barely any dust still present.

He tensed slightly when he saw the crowd of onlookers gazing at them. All manners of species were there, watching them with rapt attention. Rodians, Humans, Twi’leks, Arcona, Togrutas, Chagrians and even a Wookie as well.

He swallowed a moan of pain as he tried to move his broken arm to his hip, where his blaster was holstered. Next to him, Padmé flashed a look at him worriedly as her hand trailed to her blaster as well. Nila and the rest of the kids were surrounding them slightly, acting as a shield.

Warily, they walked through the crowd, trying to ignore the gazes filled with greed and opportunistic glances looking at them.

Lax let out a low breath of relief as they exited the crowd, following Nila as they were led through a web of small streets deeper into the city of Vlarnya. They were heading to the poorer part of the town, with cracked and half-demolished huts and shops surrounding them. There were less speeders rushing by, less in the air. The viewscreens outside shops and taverns were broken and cracked. Malfunctioning droids and battered people were seen through half-broken doors. It felt as though eyes were following them, tracking their every movement.

Next to him, Padmé was looking at the poverty surrounding them despondently, dejectedly staring at the broken stalls and homes.

“This is one of the oldest parts of the city.” Nila said to them, having noticed their stares, “Used to be filled with people. Everywhere you looked there was something new and interesting. Stalls were everywhere selling goods from all over the galaxy.”

“How do you know?” Lax asked, curious to know how she knew this, especially as district had been rundown for long.

“It’s a common story here.” Nila said, “I’ve heard about it at least once a week. Its Ulta’s favourite story.” She waved over to the Zeltron boy that had helped Lax out of the debris.

Lax nodded as he thoughtfully looked around them, trying to imagine this place as a bustling market, with species everywhere, mingling and bartering.

“How did it get like this then?” Padmé asked curiously.

“Crime.” Nila replied, “Smugglers, slavers. Anyone who does anything illegal. This became the centre for crime in Courkrus and many decided to leave instead of stay and risk death.”

“Are smugglers that bad?” Lax asked. He had been aware that they were common in Courkrus, but this place was worse than Mos Eisley, deserted and broken.

“Yes.” Nila said decidedly, as they walked over the broken plascrete of a half-broken house, “The only thing that keeps Courkrus alive is their Itys.”

“Itys?” Lax asked, unaware of the meaning of the word.

“It’s a sort of honour…” Nila was lost for words as she struggled to explain what it was, frustration visible in her eyes.

“System?” A human boy offered, walking next to Ulta.

“Yeah! That! Thanks Rate.” Nila said triumphantly, making Lax and Padmé smile slightly at her enthusiasm, “A honour system. If you do something for them, they do something for you. Things like that.”

“Smugglers with an honour system?” Padmé said disbelievingly.

Nila shrugged, “Its hard to believe but its there. It’s more for tradition I think.”

“So that’s why Jyke helped us. The honour system. We helped him. So, he helped us.” Padmé said, realisation dawning on her face.

“Probably.” Lax said, “It’s the most likely reas—”

**Danger!**

The Feeling filled Lax, crashing onto him as it warned him of incoming danger. Time slowed as Lax whirled around, the Feeling supporting him as his left arm stretched out, blaster in hand. How had it gotten there? He shot before he could even register what he saw, his finger squeezing the trigger unconsciously.

The bolt hit the source of the danger, a human, in the face, blasting him to the ground, causing his shot to go high, sailing over Lax and the others.

Breathing heavily, Lax calmed down, adrenaline racing through his body as power coursed through his veins, numbing his pain and giving him a sense of… peacefulness? The end of his blaster was smoking slightly as it cooled down from the shot.

Next to him Padmé and the kids were staring at him in shock. Padmé’s eyes were wide open and Nila was gaping widely. They stared at him for a while, frozen in shock at what had happened.

“How did you do that!” Ulta screamed in excitement as he bounded towards him, excitement causing him to shake slightly. He was very happy, even for a Zeltron with their normal giddiness, at what he had just seen, “How did you even know he was there? How did you turn so fast?”

Speechlessly, Lax stared at Ulta, “I don’t… know.” More importantly, how had he even gotten his blaster if his left arm hadn’t even come close to his right hip and was around Padmé?

“Really?!” Ulta cried, “But how did you shoot him first then?!”

Nila snapped her gaping mouth closed as she finally regained cognitive functions, “Stop asking him questions Ulta.” She ordered, before heading to the body.

Lax finally sagged, his blaster clattering to the floor from his now limp fingers, as the Feeling disappeared from him, reintroducing him to the meaning of pain. Luckily, Padmé had also just recovered as she managed to catch him.

“How did you know he was there?” Padmé asked inquisitively.

Lax nodded his head, unable to explain, “I really don’t know.”

Padmé stared at him thoughtfully, before accepting his answer and turning to help him to Nila who was looking at the body.

“Probably only a common thief.” Nila said as she bent to search through the body’s pockets, “Saw us injured and decided we were an easy target.”

Lax stared down at the body, almost gasping as he saw the damage he had done to the face. The man’s nose was completely gone, and his face was a mess with barely any distinguishable features left. The only thing recognisable left was his short brown hair.

“Padmé! Lax!” Nila shouted as she stared at an object she had found on the body.

Turning to look at her Lax was pleasantly surprised to see a tube in her hands filled with a glowing light blue liquid. It was a bacta injector!

Grinning, Lax shambled towards her. Finally, a ray of sunshine after all of this darkness. With this bacta injector he could heal most of his injuries, and even slightly heal his arm.

Padmé took the injector from Nila, smiling at her in thanks as she studied it intensely, looking for any problems.

“But,” Nila said, “It’s the… special version.”

“Special version?” Lax queried, confused.

“Made in Courkrus’s underground. It works much better and faster than the original.” Nila replied, but hesitatingly continued. “But… it has side effects.”

“And what are these side effects?” Padmé questioned, looking at the seemingly simple bacta injector in her hand.

“Not too bad. Just a random bout of shaking every now and then… and the small chance of being paralysed for a bit.”

Lax frowned, exchanging looks with Padmé, knowing that he couldn’t immediately take the bacta, especially if it could paralyse him. He could take the shaking, but not paralysis. They first had to get to the place that Nila was taking them too and then he could take it in a safe spot. He turned to face Nila, “How far are we from your safe spot.”

“We’re there.” Nila said in reply, gesturing to an abandoned house down the street, “It’s in there.”

“Then let’s go.” Lax declared and followed Nila into the house. Most of the outside walls was worn away, with many pieces having fallen off. The windows were completely gone, leaving only gaps in the wall that allowed the wind to create an eerie noise. The inside was as destroyed as the outside, with the walls barely standing as cracks were spread out all over it. There were a few destroyed doors lying in a pile to the side, but nothing else. There were stairs to the right leading to nothing, as the upstairs roof had been destroyed. All the furniture was gone, with a cracked in half viewscreen the only thing left on the wall. The house was bare, devoid of anything except debris and destroyed doors.

“Is this it?” Lax asked, confused. How could they live here if there was no evidence of any recent living? Yet, something told Lax that there was more to this house, something unseen, something…

“Underground.” Padmé said, drawing a grin from Nila and surprising Lax at how quickly she had figured it out, “It’s underground.”

“Yes, it is.” Nila said proudly, “Rix, do you want to show them?”

The only other girl of the kids smiled, a human, and headed towards the stairs. Lax watched patently as she pressed on the side of the stairs, against the wall underneath it. He was surprised when it moved backwards, swinging open to reveal another set of stairs, this time going down.

“A smuggler’s storehouse.” Nila said in reply to Lax and Padmé’s inquisitive gazes. “To store all of the goods he needed. Spice, food, clothes, weapons. Anything you can think of, all hidden in there.”

Lax whistled, “Lucky us then. How did you find this place?”

“My sister tripped.” Nila replied simply, grinning widely, making Lax smile.

They headed down the stairs into a largish room. Shelves were everywhere, with most of them being empty and dust covered. A few mattresses were to the side, just enough for all the kids here. Lax even saw a computer at the wall to the side with viewscreens covering the wall. There were some worn seats in the middle of the room, around a chipped and broken table.

“Nila.” A young girl’s sleep voice sounded out, slightly hoarse, “Is that you?”

The girl walked out from behind one of the shelves, another Twi’lek, her skin and lekku were blue and her head was covered in a large bandage made from ripped cloth. She looked tired and was rubbing her eyes to wake up more. Lax surmised that this was likely Nila’s sister.

She yelped slightly as soon as she saw Lax and Padmé, jumping behind the shelves again to hide herself, her lekku flying behind her. She peeked over the corner slightly, warily watching Padmé and Lax for any suspicious actions, “Who are they?”

“Their friends, Esa.” Nila said, “They were the ones that gave me the bacta to heal you.”

The girl, Esa, immediately switched mood as soon as Nila said that, “Ok!” She said cheerfully, skipping to them, her previous wariness forgotten.

“Hi! I’m Esa.” Esa said cheerfully, beaming as she stood before Lax and Padmé, stretching out her hand for a handshake, “Thank you for giving us the bacta.”

“Hello Esa. I’m Lax.” He said grinning, amused as he shook her hand, “And no problem.”

“And I’m Padmé.” Padmé introduced herself, also shaking Esa’s hand.

“Esa!” Nila said exasperatedly, “Give it back.”

“What?” Esa said innocently, turning to look at Nila confusedly, “Give what back.”

“Her ring.” Nila replied.

“Oh fine!” Esa said, throwing her hands in the air, before turning to Padmé, and opening her right hand to reveal a ring with a… Malab crystal?

“I’m sorry Ms Padmé. I just couldn’t stop myself.” Esa pouted with at least some sorrow entering her voice.

Padmé regained control of herself shortly after, tearing her shocked gaze away from the ring to Esa and taking her ring back.

She smiled at Esa, amused at her pouting and the situation, “You’re a little thief, aren’t you?” She said amused and teasingly, “Its fine. You just have to promise you won’t do it again, ok?”

Esa nodded silently as she accepted the terms.

“Now,” Nila said to them, “We need to inject you with the bacta.” Then turning to Rate and Rix, “Can you two look for food?”

The two kids nodded in reply and headed up again.

Lax nodded, before sitting down with Padmé’s help on one of the chairs in the middle of the room. He lied back in the chair, relaxed and recovering from the long walk with his injuries. He cradled his broken arm to him, unwilling for it to move and more pain to stab him.

Padmé crouched next to him, lifting the sleeve of his shirt on his right arm to reveal the upper part of his arm. There were large and purple bruises covering it, with very little undamaged skin left behind.

“This may hurt a bit.” Padmé joked, as she readied the injector, causing Lax to roll his eyes at her. How could it hurt more than it did now?

“This likely won’t fully heal your arm.” Padmé said, “Even if it is improved bacta. Your arm is too hurt for even this to heal.”

Lax nodded, relaxing his arm to minimise the pain from the injectION!

With a quick jab, she plunged the injector into his arm, causing pain to explode through it. Lax clenched his teeth to silence the scream of pain that would have burst out of him. It felt like his arm was on fire, with his blood being replaced by liquid fire as it coursed through his body.

It spread from his arm to his shoulder and then the rest of his body, feeling as if it was burning his insides. His entire body was in pain, his nerves working overtime to send all the signals of pain to his brains. Tears were streaming from his eyes, from the pain or from the heat. He didn’t know.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes shut, gasping through his gritted teeth, “You… didn’t… tell… me… it… would… be… so… painful.”

“Sorry!” Nila’s voice came, “I forgot about it. We barely ever get this type, very expensive to make. But it shouldn’t last long!”

“Are you sure?” Padmé’s worriedly asked.

“Yes?” Nila replied unsurely, her voice trailing off in the end.

Minutes later, or longer, the pain dulled, dissipating bit by bit as it seemed the worst was past. His right arm felt much better and only a dull pain could be felt. Lax opened his clenched eyes that were still streaming with tears. He breathed out slightly, his breath rushed and warm.

Padmé was sitting in front of him, worriedly looking over him as she nervously wringed her hands. She breathed out heavily in relief when she saw his eyes open.

“Better now?”

“Yes.” Lax breathed out, lying against the chair tiredly, spent from the experience, “Much better. The bacta is dulling the pain and now I only have to wait for the rest.”

“Good.” Padmé said, as she put a threadbare pillow behind his head to let him rest.

“How long was I like that.” Lax asked, shifting his hurt arm to make it more comfortable, he could feel the shaking happening already.

“20 minutes or so.” Padmé answered.

“Where’s Nila?” Lax asked, catching no sight of the young girl.

“She went out, saying she would be back in a few clicks.”

At that moment, Nila appeared at the bottom of the stairs, carrying a small object in her hand.

She smiled when she spotted Lax relaxing on the chair, “You’re fine. Good.” Then muttered softly to herself, “I didn’t know if it would work.”

Lax raised an eyebrow at this statement, having heard it, causing Nila to blush a bit. Her cheeks turning green as she looked away slightly.

“Anyway,” She declared, setting down the object, revealing it to be a small boxy looking object, “I found a Holonet receiver.”

“That?” Ulta said disbelievingly, scoffing, “That looks like it couldn’t even handle 20 terabytes.”

“I know it’s old.” Nila said, “And was probably made from tech used millennia before the Old Republic even existed.”

“That’s a toy.” Ulta said dismissively, “Probably made to entertain some two-year-old like you.”

“Maybe it works?” Nila said, trying desperately to defend her new ‘Holonet receiver’. She switched on the receiver, only for it to sputter for a bit, then die.

Ulta laughed, pointing at her and saying, “I told you so.”

Nila threw the toy receiver to the side, joining a pile of other broken receivers, “Shut up Ulta. But it would be great if we could get one to work. Maybe even two. Then we can find out where Rate and Rix are right now and if they found food.”

“Their probably at the bazaar close to where we found them.” The Rodian boy piped up. The only one from the group who Lax didn’t know the name of.

“You’re probably right Yilt.” Nila replied as she went to join him on the mattresses, where Esa was sleeping.

Lax and Padmé looked at each other, smiling from the childish argument from the kids, “Reminds me of me and Anakin.”

Padmé smiled even more, and then looked down at the ring with a Malab crystal, “The same for me and my sister, Sola.”

Lax looked at the ring curiously, still wondering why he had never seen it before, “Where did you get that?”

Padmé smiled still looking at the ring, rubbing her finger over the glossy black stone. “I always had it with me. It has cloaking technology installed on it because I wanted to make sure it would never get stolen.”

“So that’s why I never saw it before.” Lax said, but he was still curious about something, “Where did you get it?”

“My family.” Padmé answered, “When I was elected to office. They gave me this to show how proud they were of me.” She paused slightly, her face turning slightly downcast as she softly continued, “But I use it to remind myself of why I became Queen.”

“Which was to?”

“To help everyone, to keep them safe from harm, to ensure that my people can live a peaceful life. And I failed all three.” Padmé said bitterly.

“Did you?” Lax questioned, sitting upright to look her in the eyes, “Did you fail all three?”

“Yes, I did.” Padmé replied, self-hating tears starting to swim in her eyes, “And now my people suffer for it.”

“But aren’t you helping them now by trying to save them and keep them from harm.” Lax said, placing his hand on her shoulder as he leaned forward, his hand shaking slightly from the side effects of the bacta, “By trying to get to Naboo and liberate it aren’t you ensuring that they live a peaceful life. You are good Queen, no matter what you think.” He wiped the tears from her cheek, “You have done more than anyone would ever except from a Queen and so far, you’ve done it well.”

“You really are a good motivational speaker, aren’t you?” Padmé rhetorically asked, her self-deprecating expression having been replaced by a small smile as she grabbed Lax’s hand with her own and went to sit next to him. Soothing the shakiness that had afflicted it.

Silently, they sat there, absorbed in their thoughts, their clasped hands resting in between them. Padmé rolled their hands around absently, allowing the ring to appear again as she stared down at it thoughtfully.

Lax stared at it, riveted by its deep pool of blackness with small specks of what seemed to be light in it.

“It looks almost like space doesn’t it?” He murmured, still engrossed in its appearance.

“You’ve never been in a cave filled with Malab stones, have you?” Padmé asked, fondly smiling at the memory.

“No?” Lax answered, confused at the question, “Why?”

“If it’s dark and you light a glow rod.” Padmé replied, lost in her memories, “Then it looks like the galaxy. The stones reflect the lights all around you, the only specks of light in the darkness surrounding you. It looks endless and makes you feel so small. That’s why it looks like the galaxy.”

“Wow.” Lax said, trying to imagine the scene, wishing he could have experienced it at least once. “I think I’ll go see that one day.”

“Nila! Nila!” A voice shouted from the stairs, revealing the source to be Rix, as she desperately ran towards Nila. She was red in the face and her hair was in disarray.

“They took Rate!” Rix shouted, causing Nila to jump to her feet and Esa to drowsily raise her head.

“Who?!” Nila cried, flashing to Rix to hold onto her shoulders, “Who took Rate?” She repeated more calmly to the panicking girl.

“The Vornskr.” Rix replied, still panicking slightly.

Nila, Ulta and Yilt blanched, even Esa, who was lying down did, causing Lax to grow worried about who these Vornskr were.

“Are you sure?” Nila replied hopefully, wishing it wasn’t true.

Rix calmed down more as she wordlessly nodded to say she wasn’t lying.

Finally, Lax couldn’t hold in his curiosity, asking, “Who are the Vornskr?”

Ulta turned to Lax, “One of the biggest crime syndicates in Vlarnya. Their well-known for kidnapping people and stealing from anyone.”

“But, why did they take Rate?” Nila asked, “Did he steal from them or something?”

Rix shook her head, “No. Apparently, he was seen with the Queen of Naboo recently, the one with the huge bounty on her."

Lax’s blood froze as he jumped up suddenly, Padmé doing the same and asking, “The Queen of Naboo. Are you sure it’s her?”

“Yes.” Rix replied, turning to look at Padmé, “Do you know her?”

“No.” Nila said, realisation dawning on her face as she pointed at Padmé, “You are her.”

Padmé swallowed heavily as the other children gasped in realisation. Finally, she bowed her head in defeat, “Yes. I am Padmé Amidala, the Queen of Naboo.”

“You’re a Queen!” Rix shouted, “You’re the Queen!”

“And when they show Rate her picture on the Holonet, they’ll find out that he knows where she is. Here.” Nila said seriously, cutting in, her normally bright face gloomy.

The other children paled, “We need to go!” Yilt cried as he leaped towards the shelves to start throwing things into a bag.

Nila nodded, rushing to join him, “Quick! Pack! We don’t know when they’ll be here.”

The children quickly rushed to pack all of their things as Lax and Padmé looked on in shock.

“Wait.” Padmé said quietly, her tone filled with surprise, “You don’t want to give me in?”

The kids paused in their work, turning to face her as Ulta said, “You helped Esa with her injury and we won’t give up someone who helped us, especially someone who helped Esa. Rate will be fine for now and we can try to get him out later.”

The other children nodded, Nila adding, “Besides, we don’t want to give Lirae anything that will help her make money.”

“Lirae!” Lax shouted in shock, “You mean the red-haired human woman Lirae?!”

“Yes.” Nila answered, “She leads the Vornskr, used to lead the swoop-bike gang. Do you know her too?”

“She’s the one who caused us to be stuck under that rubble.” Lax replied, “She has a friend of ours as well.”

“Then, if their adults then their probably dead.” Yilt said, “Lirae only keeps children, people like your age and mine, alive and that’s for slavery.”

“No.” Lax said, shaking his head, “She sounded like she wanted to torture him, for a while as well.”

Nila frowned as the other children continued packing, “Then he’s better off dead. Lirae is known for her torture skills, one of her main strengths apparently. Who was he though? Lirae doesn’t torture just anyone herself.”

“Jyke Ryzle.” Padmé replied, “He’s a-”

“Smuggler!” Nila said shocked, as her eyes flew wide open and her lekku trembled slightly, “He’s still alive?!”

“Yeah.” Lax responded, “We saved him from a ship in space. He had already been captured by Lirae.”

Padmé cut in, “Why do you know him?”

Nila paused, her mouth forming unsaid words as she seemed to struggle answering.

Nila finally answered, “He was… the leader of the Terantatek, an even bigger crime syndicate than the Vornskr, till he died. Or as it turns out supposedly died.”

Surprised, Lax looked back at Padmé to see her surprised as well. Lax knew that Jyke had been a smuggler, but the leader of one of Courkrus’s biggest syndicates. That was new.

“And that means that he has power, and lots of it.” Nila answered, “He even has enough power to stop the entire Courkrus from attacking you. He can protect you while here, keep you safe and free Rate. But…”

Lax realised where she was going with this, “But as long as he’s imprisoned, he can do nothing.”

“Yes.” Nila said, her voice growing very serious, belying her young age, this was the first time that Lax realised how fast Nila had been forced to mature on Vlarnya’s streets, where she was forced to fight for food and struggle to survive. And yet throughout all of this she still maintained a spark of innocence and childishness. Lax truly respected this young woman right now, where she was able to remain calm in this tense and dire situation.

Nila continued, “And in less than a day we’ll all be caught and Padmé will be handed over to them to be sold to the Trade Federation. The rest of us will likely be turned into…” She trailed off, unwilling to say it.

“Slaves.” Lax finished, “We’ll likely be turned into slaves.”

Angrily, he whirled around and stalked to the wall, almost wanting to hit the wall in frustration. He had just escaped slavery, and now he would soon return to being one. Padmé as well, she would fail in her mission to liberate Naboo and would be sold to the Trade Federation. Lax didn’t even want to think about what would happen to her then. His family, Anakin and his mother, he would never again get to see them again. Never see Anakin and his mother finally enjoy life, away from Tatooine.

No! Lax cried in his head, interrupting his thoughts, he and Padmé will get out of this. Resolved, he turned around to look at Nila and Padmé.

“If we get Jyke out.” Lax said, “You said he can keep us safe.”

Nila nodded, “If he gets out and returns to Terantatek then no one can touch you, and he can easily release Rate.”

“So, we have to get Jyke out.” Padmé said, “If we do all our problems will be solved.” Lax could see the determination flaring in her eyes, Lax knew that she was thinking the same as Lax. They both couldn’t fail, because neither of them knew what to they would do if they didn’t.”

However, Lax realised there was a large flaw in the plan, “But how will we get to Jyke. We can’t take on the entire Vornskr, so we have to get in stealthily.”

“I can help with that.” Rix answered, coming to stand next to Nila with a large durasteel box in her hands, “But first. Here.”

She laid the box on the table in front of them, opening it to reveal two rows of three metal spheres with a large button on the side.

Lax gasped, “Are these?”

Nila grinned, “Thermal dets.” She reached out to grab one, “From the previous owner of the house. They must have forgotten it when they left. Here.” She gave the thermal detonator to Lax.

Lax looked at it, feeling its smooth metal surface. In his hand there was enough force to blow a Dug, like Sebulba, into nothingness. Lax realised he was grinning, a look mirrored on Padmé’s face as she also grabbed one.

“Two dets for you, two for Padmé and the other two for us.” Nila said, as she handed the rest out, grinning as well, “Please don’t explode it now.”

Lax paled as he realised that he was holding the detonator with a shaking hand. Swiftly, he clipped the detonators to his belt. It was good that the Angel had this belt. It was helping immensely so far.

Padmé had realised something as well, “Lax. What about your arm. What if it gets hurt?”

Lax shook his head, “I’ll take hurting my arm over being caught any day. It should be fine, and the shaking doesn’t happen to often. If I don’t hit someone with it, I’ll be fine.”

Finally, they were ready. The kids had packed most of their things and were carrying them in small cloth bags slung over their shoulder.

They were standing in front of another section of the wall, this time there was a screen to the side, indicating there was more to the wall than it seemed.

Ulta stepped forward to the screen, as he took out a small, old, computer and slicer droid, which Lax was sure the children could not afford. He plugged it into the wall, typing quickly on the computer before stepping back, revealing it to be a scramble key. He was a slicer?

Ulta turned around to see Lax’s raised eyebrow at the revelation and quickly defended himself, “What else can you learn to do with only a computer to keep you busy most nights?! And I found the key in an abandoned house, so I didn’t steal it.”

Lax rolled his eyes, grinning at Padmé as she laughed at Ulta.

Then, with a small hiss, the scramble key finished, and the door hissed open, allowing Ulta to repack the computer and the small slicer droid into his bag. The door led to a dark tunnel with barely any light. A cold wind was blowing through the tunnel and the darkness seemed endless.

The children took out glow rods, Rix handing Lax, Padmé and Esa one of their own. They then walked out into the tunnel silently, leaving behind the storage room. Nila paused while looking at the room for a short time, complicated thoughts and emotions flashing through her eyes. Then she hardened herself, whirling around to walk down the tunnel.

Their footsteps were echoing as they walked, the sound of their feet slapping against the hard floor seemingly never stopping. Lax noticed that they seemed to be walking downhill slightly, meaning they were going deeper underground. Lax still hadn’t been told how they were going to get to Jyke, but he soon noticed a faint light starting to appear in front.

They walked to the light, the glow rods casting their shadows onto the wall. Behind them, Lax could no longer see the storeroom. All that he could see was the small faint light in front. The wind was growing stronger as well, pushing against them, as if warning them to go back. Lax almost wanted too, but he knew they had to succeed.

Finally, they reached the end of the tunnel, where the light was appearing. He gasped in awe as he took in the sight before him. He was in a huge cavern, that stretched out for what definitely seemed like a few klicks. There were a few rays of light breaking through the roof, illuminating the surroundings slightly.

“These are the-” Padmé started.

“Catacombs of Courkrus.” Rix said, “On which Vlarnya was built millennia ago. They stretch out for many klicks, have access to almost every house and street in ground level Vlarnya, and are impossible to navigate.”

Then grinning, she continued, “Unless you were forced to live here for long. Like me. Then you can navigate it.”

Lax grinned back, ready for what was to come. They could get to where the Vornskr were, a casino and free Jyke.

Lax knew that the hardest would come after entering the casino. They would need to get Jyke out of there without being killed or caught.

Yet, as The Feeling filled his body, giving him strength and Padmé walked next to him, fire flashing in her eyes. He knew one thing only.

They _would_ win.

**Hope you enjoyed.**

**Adios**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey, here’s another chapter. Sorry for the slightly longer wait. To make up for it here is my longest chapter yet. **

**Kuba- The length of a family of Jawas in a single file. I just thought 2 metres**

**Bold- Announcer/Commentator**

**Klicks-Short for Kilometres**

_Italics-Huttese_

**Enjoy**

_“Do they know where she is?” _A voice hissed in the darkness; their silhouette illuminated only by the glowing lights on the panel behind them.

_“No!” _A guttural voice rasped back,_ “She has hidden, but they will find her soon. No one can hide from all the bounty hunters in the galaxy.”_

_“What of the people who helped her?”_

_“Them?” _A person emerged from the darkness of the shadows, stepping into the light as she smiled grimly, _“They will pay for refusing Lirae her catch.”_

The alien, a humanoid with reptilian mottled skin, a ridged head and long hair that reached its shoulders, was playing with a blaster as she smiled, her eyes glinting with cruelty as he savoured in the possibility of catching the culprits. It was a female Falleen, Lax had heard rumours on Tatooine that they were building a huge crime syndicate, but this was the first time that Lax had seen one on Courkrus.

_“Hello!” _A young girl’s voice rang from the darkness, instantly attracting the Falleen’s attention.

_“Who’s there?” _The Faleen called out, drawing her blaster out, _“What are you doing here?”_

_“Don’t shoot!” _The girl replied, stepping from the inky black, revealing herself to be a blue Twi’lek, _“I have news about the Queen of Naboo!”_

_“News?” _The Falleen repeated, _“And why would you tell me this news?”_

_“I need help to get her.” _The girl pleaded, her eyes beseeching the Falleen to listen, _“I heard that you could help me get her, and I’ll share the money with you.”_

_“What about me?”_ The earlier voice spoke out, stepping forward to reveal the owner to be a humanoid with a spiked mask, one that Lax thought looked familiar, _“I can help too.”_

The girl gulped slightly at the sight of the mask, _“You ca-can get a share too.”_

The Falleen smirked sinisterly, shadows casted across her face like spears ready to pounce, _“We’ll share it then.” _She promised, her voice sounding overly sincere and demeaning, _“Now come and tell me what you know.”_

The Twi’lek girl nervously shuffled, hands in her pockets, only her face visible as darkness encroached on her, towards the Falleen, who was now kneeling down to meet her, _“I saw her at the market next to the Terantatek swoop track, she was saying something.”_

_“Oh?” _The Falleen said, _“And what did she say?”_

_“That she really hates walking around in dark caves and wants you to move out of the way immediately.” _The girl said simply as she stood in front to the Falleen, all her previous fear and uncertainty gone as she smiled in confidence,

_“Wha-“_

The Twi’lek leaped forward, lunging towards the surprised Falleen as she drew a stick from her clothes. She hit the Falleen in the chest and a flash of light illuminated the surroundings as she was shocked, revealing two other children behind her, with similar sticks in their hands, leaping towards the masked alien.

The Falleen shrieked as she fell to the ground, trembling as she lay there unconscious. The masked alien had little time to react before being hit as well by the shock sticks.

The three children surrounded the twitching bodies, shock sticks raised in readiness, watching warily for any sign of them being awake.

After a few seconds, the Twi’lek girl sighed in relief as she dropped her guard, prompting the other two children to do so as well before starting to search the unconscious aliens.

“Everything’s all right.” She shouted out into the darkness, “You can come out now.”

Slowly, two people emerged from the black, two humans, Lax and Padmé. They were alert, with their blaster pistols tightly clasped in their hands, ready to shoot at a moment’s notice.

Lax quickly relaxed, seeing no problems, lowering his blaster as he smiled at the girl, “Good job Nila. How did you know that would work?”

Nila grinned at him, “If you’re the type of person that works for Lirae and the Vornskr then you likely would do anything for money.” She then shrugged, “And this isn’t the first time I’ve done something like this.”

Padmé raised her eyebrow at this statement, “Really?”

“I use it to get food from some people. Being a kid really helps with the act.” Nila shrugged as she turned to help the two other children, Ulta and Yilt with the unconscious bodies.

Padmé’s smile dampened slightly at the reply. Lax knew that she didn’t like the situation that Nila and the other children were in.

“I found it!” Ulta cried as he held up a small card, “It’s the keycard.”

“Good.” Nila said as she took the card, turning it over to examine it, “Now we can get in the casino, but we need to wait for Rix first.”

Lax nodded before he froze as he felt something tug at him, like something was hinting at him that someone was coming, but not someone dangerous, meaning it could only be one person that Lax knew.

“I think Rix is here.” He announced as he turned to look at the direction which he felt the tugging coming from.

“Where?” Nila asked confused, straining to see through the darkness, “Oh wait! I see her.”

Quickly, Rix appeared before them, carrying a small sack of objects that she set down at their feet.

“Did everything go okay?” Nila asked her, worried.

“No problems.” Rix replied, “No one saw me go in the ship. Although,” She said annoyed, turning to look at Lax, “I thought they would hear me when your ‘help’ attacked me.”

Lax winced, as he smiled sheepishly and reached down to open the bag, “It does that. Did you remember to tap its nose, that shuts it down?”

Rix nodded, still slightly annoyed at him, “Luckily, I remembered, or else I would have been found.”

“Are they watching it that much?” Padmé asked inquisitively, “How many people.”

“A lot.” Rix said, “I think they were planning on robbing the entire ship as well, but Lirae has claimed it as her own and has her men watching it, but its easy to sneak past them as a kid.”

“Well,” Lax said grinning as he took a folded droid out of the bag, “If they had found you, you could have just thrown this little thing at them and enjoyed the show.”

“It can’t be that good at fighting.” Rix said sceptically, “It’s only a small droid.”

“This small droid here has saved my life twice now.” Lax said as he examined the droid for any damage, “It took down an entire pod racer before.”

“Really?” Nila asked, “But why would you even need to destroy a pod racer?”

Lax grinned at Padmé, who was smiling back, “A story to tell another time. For now, we have to get Jyke out.” He picked the droid up and put it in another small bag that he slung over his shoulder.

“But first.” Padmé said, as she stooped down to grab a long tube from the bag, then offering it to Lax, “Here.”

Lax froze at the sight of the tube. It was the tube that Grievious had used, the tube that turned into a knife that absorbed the blood from a person’s body, till it turned into a… husk. He thought he had lost it when they were escaping the smuggler ship, where they had found Jyke.

“How did?” Lax asked, but he was unable to complete the question, afraid of the answer, of what Padmé would think.

“I picked it up after you used it on the smuggler.” Padmé said, “I saw what it did to him.”

Lax gulped as it was confirmed that Padmé knew what it was. She must think that he was a horribl-

“I trust you.” Padmé said, smiling at him, cutting off his thought process, “With my life even. I know that I can trust you with this thing.”

“But,” Lax said suprised, “What it does to people.”

“Is just as bad as what blasters and thermal detonators do to them.” Padmé said, dismissing his protests, before offering the tube to him again, “And I believe that it’s the person who uses the weapon that decides if a weapon is horrible or not and I could never believe that you’re a horrible person.”

Lax met her gaze for a few seconds, staring into her warm hazel eyes, the azure green specks seemingly floating as she stared back at him warmly and full of trust.

Wordlessly, he accepted the tube, strapping it to his belt as he silently thanked her for her trust in him. He hoped that he lived up to the trust she placed in him.

“What are you two talking about?” Nila asked, her curious eyes watching the tube intensely, “Which knife, and what does it do.

“This can turn into a knife.” Lax answered soberly, tapping the tube, “And I hope you never see what it does.”

Nila nodded as she read the underlying hint, “Okay. Ulta, are you ready with the disguise?”

“Yes.” Ulta answered, lifting up some ragged clothing and the weapons they had found on the two-unconscious people.

“Great!” Nila said cheerfully, before turning to Lax, “Are you ready?”

Lax sighed in defeat, “Yes, but I still don’t get why you chose me. Padmé should have a disguise.”

“It’s just…” Nila said, “You look the most like a smuggler.”

Next to Lax, Padmé snorted, trying to cover her laughter with her hand. Lax rolled his eyes at her reaction before asking, “Why?”

“It’s your scar. It makes you look like you’ve fought a lot.” Ulta said, motioning towards the long scar that ran down his left cheek and just past his eye. The scar that had been given to him by Grievious, just a little more than a month ago. A constant reminder of the first time that Lax had to fight for his life, where he had found the knife… and the jewel.

Returning his focus to the present, he grabbed the ragged clothes and weapons, heading off to the side to put them on.

Luckily, there was a cloak inside the bundle that would allow Lax to hide himself more and get recognised less easily. He strapped on some of the rags, to add to the impression that he had been in several battles and strapped the two blaster pistols they got from the Falleen and masked alien to his side. He hoped that he didn’t need to use them because he was still shaking from the ‘special’ bacta he had been given

Returning back to the group, he was met with awed and shocked gazes. However, to the side Lax saw Padmé muffling some laughter. He raised an eyebrow at her reaction, confused at why she was laughing.

“You really look like a smuggler.” Rix said as she stared at him, “This might actually work.”

“It will work.” Lax replied, determined that their plan would succeed, “Now, are we ready.”

One by one everyone reported that they were ready, everything that needed to be prepared was done and they were ready. Which meant they only had to do one more thing.

“Padmé, it’s your turn now.” Lax said, as he walked to her, smiling slightly at his opportunity for revenge.

“I feel like you like this idea much more than I do.” Padmé sighed as she turned around, her hands behind her.

“Hey,” Lax protested, locking her hands in magnetic durasteel handcuffs, “I feel like laughing at me is crime punishable by going to prison.”

“Then are you going to arrest everyone else here?” Padmé challenged, her eyes twinkling as she turned to face him.

“If I need to.” Lax said, smirking as he propped up her hood to cover her face, “Even angels.”

Padmé smiled wildly at him, blushing slightly as she asked, “When are you going to stop that?”

Lax grinned at her, innocently replying, “Stop what?”

He then turned to Nila, “We’re ready.”

She nodded, “Good. You know what the plan is right?”

“We look for Jyke and free him, while you split into two groups to free Rate, because he is held elsewhere, and to find the best exit. We meet at the swoop track.” Padmé replied, shifting her hands slightly as she spoke.

“That’s the plan.” Ulta said, “And we’re lucky that today is the annual swoop race. So, there will be many more people than normal inside, meaning we can all hide ourselves easier in the crowd.”

“Well then,” Lax said, rolling his shoulders back in preparation, “Let’s do this.”

They trooped to the door, where they stood, preparing themselves for what would come.

Nila pressed the keycard to the door’s sensor. With the sound of a rush of air the door opened revealing a well-lit corridor that continue onwards for some time.

“You two have to go first.” Nila said, “They can’t see all of us go together. We’ll go in a bit after you.”

“Will you be alright?” Padmé asked, worried, “What if you get attacked?”

Nila smiled at her, “We’ll run away. We’ve done it before and can do it again.”

Padmé looked at her, still worried, hesitating before reluctantly nodding, “Alright. We’ll see you at the swoop track then.”

Nila nodded, “We’ll see you there. Good luck.”

Lax and Padmé headed into the corridor, leaving behind the others as they swiftly walked through the corridor. Lax was behind Padmé, already acting like she was his prisoner in case anyone saw them.

“Do you want me to loosen them.” He whispered to Padmé when she saw her uncomfortably moving her hands around.

“No.” Padmé shook her head, “We need to make sure no one sees through this act. It doesn’t hurt, it’s only a little uncomfortable.”

Ahead, Lax saw a split in the corridor, “Left?” He asked Padmé.

“Why not?” She shrugged, but then she turned to face him, “Are you sure that you can talk to them? If you can’t understand them, they may get suspicious.”

“It’ll be fine.” Lax said, placating her, “Huttese is the common language used among criminals, and if not, we can use Basic. But no one will suspect the Queen of Naboo and her helpers to speak Huttese, so we have to stick to Huttese if we can.”

They headed down the left side of the split, which led them to a flight of stairs. They climbed up them, the only sounds were their footsteps and breathing, echoing off the walls eerily. They finally reached a door that Lax knew would lead them to the rest of the casino… and Lirae and the rest of the Vornskr.

He double checked Padmé, making sure that her hood was on good and covering her well. He checked the handcuffs, trying to see if there was a problem.

“You ready for this?” He asked Padmé.

She dipped her head wordlessly, already lowering her head to seem more cowed.

Together they stepped through the door into another hallway, this time with some people. Rodians and Gamorreans could be seen, Lax could even see Leffingites, Ithorians, Twi’leks and some Kaleesh as well.

_“Who are you!” _A guttural voice grunted out at them in a language that Lax luckily knew but wished he didn’t. He turned to see a Gamorrean lumbering towards them, his lips drawn in a snarl. Lax didn’t know if they were luck or unlucky. Gamorreans were renowned for their stupidity, but also for their skill in fighting. Yet, they respected strength, so time to start this act.

_“Why should I tell you?” _He answered calmly, lowering his voice to a sinister drawl as he glared at the Gamorrean. His blue eyes blazing like a raging fire as he subtly threatened the Gamorrean.

_“Because…” _The Gamorrean paused his squealing as he was stumped by the question, until he finally continued, _“You could be a sp-“_

The Gamorrean was stopped mid-sentence by the sight of a blaster pistol aiming straight at his face, just above his large nose, the end lighting up dangerously. Gamorreans could survive a blaster bolt, quite many in fact. But one to the face? Likely not.

_“Are you accusing me?” _Lax hissed calmly, a stark contrast to his whirling turmoilous thoughts as he desperately tried to keep up the act and not let it leak that he really wasn’t allowed to be here.

The Gamorrean gulped, his hooded, fat eyes crossing as he looked at the blaster’s point, stuttering, _“N-no.”_

_“Good.” _Lax said, lowering his blaster slightly, but ready to lift it at a moment’s notice, _“Now tell me where I can put this woman for daring to steal from me. Or else…” _He left off at the end, letting the Gamorrean imagine the rest.

_“Or else what?” _The Gamorrean squealed, confused.

Lax almost face palmed as he realised that the Gamorrean was too stupid to imagine what he was implying. So, time to rectify that.

_“Or else, the Vornskr are eating Gamorrean tonight.” _Lax threatened, trying to scare the Gamorrean further, so less questions would be asked.

_“You can put her in the prison cells.” _The Gamorrean nervously said, paling at the threat, _“Close to the swoop track.”_

_“Good.” _Lax whispered dangerously, making the Gamorrean strain to hear him, _“Now go, and make sure I never see you again.”_

The Gamorrean lumbered away quickly, not willing to stay behind and risk death for even a second.

“Good job.” Padmé whispered so that only Lax could hear as they started walking again, her head lowered so that no one could see her face, “But how will we find the swoop track?”

“Go where all the people are, they’ll all be at the track.” Lax whispered back, heading towards where he could hear the loud roar of thousands of people. It would likely be where the swoop track was.

They moved through the casino, passing by many smugglers and thugs who looked at them with interest and greed, but Lax managed to stem the impending violence with glares and a few unsubtle movements to his blaster.

After what seemed like forever, they finally managed to reach the source of the noise as they exited the building out into a wave of warmth and a large open ground that stretched out for a few klicks. Thousands of people were littered across the ground, at stalls and seats on the floor. There were turbolifts to the stands that reached high into the sky, looking over… the swoop track.

It was a simple oval but seemed to be over 10 klicks long. It was huge and there were obstacles covering the track. Forcefields were randomly appearing on the track, plumes of fire bellowing up with the force of a thousand banthas. Wrecked swoop bikes littered the course as well, proof of the many that had lost their lives here.

Guards were everywhere, covering spot that they could as they surveyed the grounds. There were quite a lot of them.

_“Bet on the winner for race 3!” _A voice shouted out close by, _“Will it be Trys, Lirae’s right hand man? Or Jisha, Lirae’s loyal follower. There will be an extra surprise during the race as well. Bet on what it will be! Find the best odds here!”_

Lax looked over to see a Togruta shouting out while behind him a holoprojector was displaying the latest odds on the races. Already tens of people were lining up at him, clamouring to bet.

_“Go!” _Another voice roared from the side, attracting Lax’s attention, _“You can’t pay, so you know what that means.”_

A humanoid in full body armour was pushing a Sullustan, a small humanoid with a ridged face that made it look like a mask was covering him. His large black eyes were pleading as he begged for forgiveness, _“Please! I can pay it soon. Just give me time!”_

_“Time!” _The armoured humanoid shouted pushing his blaster rifle into the Sullustan’s face, _“You want more time when you already wasted our time betting on something you can’t pay!”_

_“Please!” _The Sullustan begged, back peddling away from the blaster, tripping as he did so to land on the floor, _“I just need a little time!”_

_“Well,” _The armoured humanoid said, sounding slightly amused through the mask, _“You’ll have that time in the prison, where you can pay your due there!”_

_“No!” _The Sullustan cried, paling dramatically at the news, _“Not there. Anything but there.”_

The humanoid hauled the Sullustan up and pushed him towards a building to the side, his blaster rifle aimed at the Sullustan’s back, _“If you didn’t want to go there. Then you should have paid.”_

_“If you’re lucky.” _The humanoid said with a sinister undertone, _“You might even get to play a little game.”_

“We have to follow them.” Padmé whispered, “They’re going to the prison.”

“Yip.” Lax murmured as he threaded them through the crowd of people, following the two at a distance so as to not attract the armoured humanoid’s attention. The Sullustan was being forced forward as he limply walked in defeat. It made Lax slightly worried.

“These prisons must be bad if the Sullustan reacted like that.” Lax whispered to Padmé, “Are you sure you want to go?”

“I have to.” Padmé replied, “It’s the only way that we can find Jyke to free him and fight back against Lirae.”

_“Have you heard about Lirae?” _A Rodian next to them asked his companion.

_“About who she’s working with?” _Came the reply, _“Yes and we shouldn’t talk about it or we might be killed. Let’s go play sabacc instead._

The two Rodians slunk away, stopping their conversation quickly. They looked around warily for any sign that they had been heard.

Lax filed that piece of information away for now. Lirae was working with someone, but who?

_“Get in.” _Lax heard the armoured man say as they entered a large building in front of them.

“We’re there.” Lax whispered to Padmé, “The moment anything happens I’m unlocking the cuffs so that you can free your hands. There’s a free blaster on my belt, take it as soon as you can.”

Padmé nodded slightly, as she took a deep breath to prepare herself, “I understand.”

The inside of the building was cool, a stark contrast to the warmth outside. They were in a simple room that had a large desk in the middle with a male human sitting there.

_“What are you doing here?” _The man asked lazily as he relaxed on the chair.

_“A woman who couldn’t pay off her debts.” _Lax answered, copying the problem the Sullustan had.

_“Another one?” _The man asked, sighing as he waved to a doorway behind him, _“Take her in, they can probably use her for help on the swoop bikes.”_

_“Help on the swoop bikes?” _Lax asked, wondering what he meant.

_“The garages for the swoop bikes are down there, they use the prisoners as free labour, cleaning and maintaining the bikes.” _The man replied absently, as he returned his attention to the computer before him.

Lax nodded as he led Padmé to the door, going through it to discover a turbolift. Entering it, the turbolift shot downwards, the inertia dampeners ensuring that they were comfortable and safe.

Soon, the turbolift stopped, opening to reveal a large room. The prisoners were on one side of the large, held inside circles of forcefields. There were some doors in the wall that Lax suspected led to even more cells. Many of the prisoners were lying on the floor of their cell in varying states of injury. Shocked, Lax watched as two Gamorreans threw a bleeding Togruta into a cell, leaving her behind untreated as they walked away laughing.

On the other side Lax saw the swoop bikes, they were standing ready, their propulsion engines on, keeping them aloft as they were cleaned or worked on by engineers and prisoners. In front of each swoop bike was a opening in the wall, leading upwards. A small group of what Lax suspected were the racers and some guards were in one corner, talking, laughing and playing pazaak and sabacc as a hologram of the track was projected next to them.

There were plasteel containers spread out everywhere in the room, likely containing parts for the swoop bikes and in the middle of the room there was a large computer in a room surrounded by an energy shield.

However, there were very few guards around, something that surprised Lax. Why would they hold Jyke and have such few guards to defend against Terantatek’s counterattack?

_“Human!” _A Rodian shouted as he sighted Lax and Padmé, _“Delivering another prisoner?”_

_“Yes.” _Lax replied, smirking bloodthirstily, _“She dared to not pay her debts.”_

_“Ahh” _The Rodian said as he examined Padmé, his eyes glinting with malignant joy, before motioning to the bikes behind him, _“Trys’s bike will need her. It’s the one at the far end of the bikes.”_

Lax nodded before roughly pushing Padmé to the swoop bike, keeping up with the act. The Rodian walked next to him, saying, _“Lirae will need to publicly punish some of these people. They dare try and cheat her.” _He shook his head in disappointment, _“They should know better, especially now that Lirae has help. Now not even the Terantatek would dare attack her.”_

There it was again. Lirae’s help. Someone was helping Lirae take over Courkrus, but who? And why? Lax needed to find out, because Jyke would need all the help he could get against Lirae.

_“Do you know who this help is?” _Lax asked, hoping the Rodian knew.

_“No.” _The Rodian answered, shaking his head, _“And if I were you, I wouldn’t ask that question to anyone else. People who dig too deep… disappear. All we know is that they wear masks, just like Jisha. Spiked ones. But there are too many species that wear masks, so until someone sees their real face then we don’t know anything. Although many suspect a certain species, as do I. But I shall talk no more of this.”_

_“Very well.” _Lax said, they were halfway to the speeder that they needed to go to now, then needing to confirm something he asked, _“I would have thought security down here would be higher.”_

_“Why?” _The Rodian asked, confused.

_“Did Lirae not capture the Terantatek’s leader, Jyke.” _Lax said, knowing that the news would have definitely spread that Lirae had capture Jyke, _“Does she not expect Terantatek to rescue him?”_

The Rodian laughed derisively, _“Like I said before, the Terantatek would never dare attack Lirae now, and it is almost impossible to get here undetected. The moment someone comes in, they would be found out. No one who isn’t Vornskr can get in here to Jyke. No one will try anyway not after what happened last week.”_

_“So,” _Lax said ignoring the last part, _“Jyke is here?”_

_“Oh, he was here.” _The Rodian said, _“Lirae tortured him for a while.” _He dreamily sighed in joy at the memory, _“His screams were like when bacta is applied to a wound, so good and calming.”_

Lax was disgusted at the Rodian’s thoughts and actions, but he had noticed something horrifying in his sentence, _“He was here? Where is he now?”_

_“Lirae took him.” _The Rodian replied absently, still dreamily thinking of Jyke’s torture, _“For the race.”_

_“For the race?” _Lax asked confused, stopping, _“What do you me-“_

He was cut off as a holoreceiver projected a hologram of a young smiling woman in front of them. A woman that Lax recognised. Lirae.

“Welcome everyone.” She was speaking in Basic as she smiled charmingly, “Welcome to the Annual Vornskr Swoop Bike Races.”

Around Lax every racer and mechanic roared out, cheering. Lax could even hear the cheers of the crowd outside, a dull roar that almost seemed to shake the building.

“This is Race 3.” Lirae continued, “The main race in this galactic-wide renowned event. The best swoop bike racers in the galaxy are here today to entertain you. Such as our first racer, one of the best racers in the galaxy…”

Ahead of Lax and Padmé a human male climbed onto the red swoop bike that Padmé was supposed to be at, which means that he was-

“Trys!” Lirae shouted.

Trys streaked forwards, through the opening, upwards. On the holographic track a miniature swoop appeared.

_“You have to love real time tracking.” _The Rodian said, looking over the hologram intensely.

One by one more and more swoops were announced, blasting through the openings to go to the track, the openings closing behind them, till lastly…

“And now, though unfortunately one of our racers couldn’t make it. We still have one more.” Lirae was still smiling wildly, but her smile grew even more excited now, “Our last racer, the one, the only, Jishaaaa!”

If possible, the roar of the crowd and the people around Lax grew even louder as a blue pod burst out onto the track. A hologram of Jisha appeared, revealing her to be wearing a mask. Different to the mask wearing humanoid from earlier, more high-tech.

_“I wish I knew what she looked like under that mask.” _The Rodian sighed as he looked at her, enraptured, _“Since Lirae first found her all those years ago.” _He turned to Lax, _“She was the one that helped Lirae against the Terantatek at first. Helped her grow larger and stronger. Now she is Lirae’s most trusted woman.”_

_“What species is she?” _Lax asked curious.

_“No one knows. Except Lirae of course.” _The Rodian replied, _“She’s been wearing that mask forever.”_

“People of Courkrus.” Lirae said, attracting their attention yet again, “I have a surprise for you? Do you want to know what is?”

_“This will be great.” _The Rodian said, grinning maniacally as the crowd roared louder in approval.

“Today’s gamer is not just anyone.” Lirae said excitedly, “He is someone we all know and hate. Someone who will be your entertainment for the next few minutes.”

“All the racers will race to cross the finish line first. We all know that. But,” Lirae wagged her finger, “As per custom, Race 3 will have an extra challenge- a game of sorts. Each speeder will have sonic emitters on its side, but with only a small range of 2 metres. A single burst of one emitter can burst the head of a normal human being.” She imitated an explosion with her hands while she still beamed at the crowd, “Even better, they could run the person over.”

Padmé gasped slightly in shock at the brutality of the game, while Lax had to swallow bile at the excited screams of the crowd.

“This is just to add some extra flavour to the race.” Lirae explained, “The racer who kills the gamer wins a special prize awarded by me.”

She clapped her hands, beaming even more, “And today’s gamer is…”

The holoprojector changed to show the picture of a glaring, beat-up and bleeding human male. The human male that Lax and Padmé were looking for.

“Jake Ryzle!!!”

This was a problem. A very big problem. What were they going to do now? Jyke was up there on the racetrack about to be killed, while he and Padmé were down here.

“However,” Lirae was serious now, no longer smiling, “I must ask something of you. Jyke had two accomplices with him, helpers, a teenage girl and boy. If you have any information on them, you will be handsomely rewarded.”

Lax’s heart froze as to holograms appeared, one of him and one of Padmé. One’s that looked very recognisable.

_“Imagine the prize that she would give for them.” _The Rodian murmured as he turned to Lax, _“It would be thousands of cred…its.” _He slowed down when he saw Lax next to the hologram, his eyes widening as he realised the truth.

He pointed at Lax, _“Yo-“_

With a loud bang he stopped in his tracks as a blaster bolt hit him in the chest at close range, leaving a large hole in his chest and the smell of melted flesh.

Immediately after Lax threw himself and Padmé to the side, behind plasteel containers, having felt a sudden sense of danger from the side. Above them a blaster bolt flew over them, crackling as it passed by.

Swiftly, Lax freed Padmé from her handcuffs, passing her blaster rifle to her, still crouching as a stream of bolts flew overhead.

“We need to clear the room!” Lax cried to Padmé as he peeked over the edge of the container, seeing only around 10 guards.

“What about Jyke?!” Padmé whispered as she crawled to crouch next to him, “We need to save him.”

“We’ll deal with that after this!” Lax shouted

**“The race will start in 2 minutes.” **A woman announced.

“Okay.” Padmé replied, “I go right, you go left?”

“That’s a plan.” Lax answered, “Let’s do it.”

With one smooth manoeuvre Lax threw himself over the containers to hide behind a pillar to the left, barely missing a wave of blaster fire. Next to him Padmé did a similar manoeuvre to hide behind some more containers.

Looking around the pillar he saw that the saw that most of the guards were close to one another, likely from all playing sabacc together before in the corner. Only the two Gamorreans from before were far away.

Taking a thermal detonator from his belt, Lax motioned to Padmé, trying to attract her attention.

Seeing what he was holding, Padmé hesitated for a second, somewhat unwilling to use it before she resolutely nodded at him.

“3…2…” Lax murmured to himself, trying to still his shaking hand desperately, “1!”

In a flash he turned around the corner activating the thermal detonator as he threw it to the crowd of guards.

_“It’s a det!” _He heard someone scream, _“Run!”_

**Booom**

The building shook as the detonator exploded, blasting the plascrete and flesh in its path into nothingness. Smoke and dust filled the room, causing many prisoners to cough.

Together, Lax and Padmé ran out of cover to shoot at the confused and disarrayed guards.

Their blaster bolts hit the guards dead centre, most of them dying before they could regain awareness.

_“Humaaannn!” _A high-pitched squeal rang out from the side.

Lax whirled around to see the two Gamorreans charging at him, vibroblades raised in the air as they barrelled towards him.

Shooting towards them, he was shocked when the Gamorreans did not try to dodge, instead allowing themselves to be shot as they charged at Lax without pause.

Bolt after bolt slammed into one of the Gamorreans, some missing due to the shaking fits that Lax was experiencing, tearing his body into pieces, but he still ran, intent on killing Lax and achieving victory. Until, finally, with a loud groan, the Gamorrean keeled over, unable to continue. But the other Gamorrean was unharmed as he grew increasingly closer to Lax.

Lax backpedalled, trying to increase the distance between them as he shot at the Gamorrean, but the Gamorrean covered the distance quickly, charging with all the force of a herd of banthas, ignoring every shot that hit him.

He had to do something. Lax would be crushed by the Gamorrean as soon as he was in arms reach and he was slower than the Gamorrean.

What could he do? Use another thermal detonator? Lax had to time it carefully then, or else the Gamorrean could quickly run out of the blast range.

Wait! There! A can of fuel, highly volatile lying next to the room with the computer. Lax just had to wait for the Gamorrean to run past it and not aim at it or else the Gamorrean would realise what he was doing. Soon… soon… now!

He snapped his blaster to the side, letting a bolt fly loose straight at the fuel container.

**Boom**

An explosion engulfed the Gamorrean, incinerating him completely and so quickly he could not even let out a single noise. The force of the explosion knocked Lax over, forcing him to the floor with a loud thump.

“Lax!” A hand grabbed onto him, pulling him up slightly, “Lax!” Padmé shouted again, worriedly laying him on her lap, “Are you okay?”

Lax blinked, trying to absorb the question, his head slightly muddled. Then after regaining some of his motor functions and his sense of the surroundings managed to thinly smile at Padmé as he sat up, muttering, “Yip. I’m fine. Just a little dazed.”

“Good.” Padmé sighed in relief, “We’ve dealt with everyone.”

**Whoosh**

The sound of the turbolift’s door opening rang through the room signalling the arrival of the human who worked at the desk above.

_“What is happening down he-“_

In that moment he was hit by five blaster bolts at the same time, causing him to fly backwards against the turbolift wall and slide down, leaving behind a trail of blood as he lay there, a shocked expression on his face and his body filled with holes.

“What?” Lax murmured as he sprang to his feet to look at the shooter.

Or in this case shooters.

Lax was stunned to see that the shooters were prisoners. Five of them were holding onto blaster rifles as they stared at the human in hate, before turning to look at Lax and Padmé. Behind them there were many more prisoners, seemingly in the hundreds, talking and hugging with each other.

Looking around Lax realised that all the forcefields had been shut off, freeing the prisoners, the doors to the side were opened, revealing more prisoners as they flowed into the room.

“What is happening here?” Lax asked Padmé, confused, “How did they escape?”

“They escaped because of you.” A voice rang out from behind them.”

Turning around, they saw the speaker to be a female Twi’lek prisoner walking towards them while smiling brightly. Lax even saw tears dripping from her eyes.

“What do you mean?” Lax asked, still confused, “How did I release you? Who are you?”

“I am Hila.” The Twi’lek answered, before explaining, “When you hit the fuel tank it destroyed the computer. It overloaded the energy shields, allowing it to obliterate the computer and release all of us.”

She came closer to Lax, tears now freely dripping down her face, “We have you to thank for releasing us all. The things they would have done to all of us…”

She hugged him tightly, murmuring thank you over and over again as hot tears dripped onto his neck. Lax stiffened slightly at the sudden hug before he relaxed slightly.

**Race starting in 10 seconds**

“Kriff’s sake!” Lax swore when he heard that, drawing back from the hug, “We need to save Jyke.”

“Yes,” Padmé agreed, “But how?”

**5**

Lax desperately looked over the room trying to give himself some inspiration.

**4**

“What about heading to Lirae.” Padmé offered him, desperately trying to think of anything they could do.

**3**

Lax shook his head, “You saw how many guards were out there. We would never make it.”

**2**

“We need to do something.” Padmé said desperately, “Or else they’ll kill him.”

**1**

“Wait,” Lax said, seeing something that made his eyes light up, “I know what to do.”

**Let the race begin!**

Above them the crowd thundered as the announcer signalled the start of the race. The roof vibrated slightly from the force of thousands of jumping people.

“What do you want to do?” Padmé asked as she followed his line of sight, before she paled when she saw it, “No.”

“Yes.” Lax said grinning wildly as he sprinted to the swoop bike lying untouched in its berth. The prisoners parted for him allowing him to reach it quickly.

“Are you sure Lax?” Padmé asked, “This isn’t like Tatooine. This is professional racing.”

“I’m sure.” Lax resolutely replied as he settled into the speeder, “Now I just need to get out there.”

“I can help with that.” A human woman announced, causing Lax and Padmé to look at her, “I’ve seen how they open it before, and the controls weren’t damaged.” She motioned to a small terminal to the side, against the wall.

“Thank you.” Lax said, nodding his head at her in respect.

“It is the least I could do for our saviour.” The woman replied, before thumping her chest, “Itys. Honour.”

“Lax,” Padmé said, pulling his attention towards her, her eyes were pleading, “Please make sure you stay alive.”

Lax smiled at her, reassuringly, “As my Angel Queen commands.” Then more seriously, “Try and get all of you to the exit. Take the weapons of the guard and rush for the exit.”

Padmé nodded in acceptance, “We will.”

He tore his gaze away, looking at the swoop bike’s controls. He could do this. It looked similar to the pod racer controls; he could handle that.

“3”, the woman announced, handling the terminal adeptly.

“2”, Lax breathed deeply, focusing. The door was opening

**“1”**

Lax shot forward like a blaster bolt, accelerating as quickly as he could straight into the dark tunnel, leaving behind the prisoners and Padmé.

The comfortable thrum of the swoop bike filled his ears, submerging him in a world that he knew; the world that he owned. The world of racing. Ahead he saw an opening in the track, light seeping through it to give the deepest denizens of the world hope and life.

He burst out into the light, flying into the air to land onto the track from the side. He was almost blown back from the booming roar of the crowd.

**“This is the fourth swoop bike to be destroyed as they seek the prize for killing- Wait! There seems to be a new bike joining the racer. Who is it?”**

Lax had landed next to another swoop bike, forcing it to the side to avoid crashing. He flashed a quick look over to see that it was Trys. One of Lirae’s men.

**“The new racer has landed next to Trys! One of today’s favorites and known for destroying many other bikes! What will happen here? Especially as Trys seems to want to be the one to get Jyke.”**

Hearing this Lax warily looked at Trys as they sped through the track next to each other. He couldn’t allow this person to kill Jyke, otherwise they would be trapped on this planet.

Determined, he sped up, streaking forward as a flash of light around the bend, trying to pull away from Trys and look for Jyke.

**Bang**

Suddenly, Lax was hit from behind, causing him to wobble dangerously as he struggled to maintain control of the swoop bike.

Cursing, he turned around quickly to see Trys following him closely and approaching to hit him again!

Swiftly, he swung the bike to the side, causing Trys to just miss him.

**“It seems that Trys will hold true to form and try to destroy the new racer! But will he focus on the new racer or on the approaching Jyke Ryzle?”**

Hearing the commentator, Lax whipped his head forward in a flash, trying to spot Jyke. There! He was in the middle of the track, rolling to the side to stop himself from being run over and far enough to stay out of range from the emitters.

Lax had to let Jyke know that it was him, so that he could pick Jyke up, but how?

Lax zoomed forward, Trys just behind him. They wove in between the obstacles almost identically, missing each one by barely a few inches. They quickly reached Jyke, who was preparing himself to dodge once again. He was running to one side in an effort to save himself, until-

Kriffing bantha dung! Jyke had tripped on the uneven ground, falling to the floor where he lay surprised for a moment.

A moment too long.

Trys too advantage of the opportunity lining himself up with Jyke as he pulled alongside Lax and zipped forward to Jyke, even as Jyke pulled himself up in desperation. Maniacal glee filled his eyes as he saw his prize before him. He could not possibly escape now.

Lax reacted instinctively, pulling the swoop bike around to crash into Trys’s bike at high speed, causing them to be knocked apart and dangerously wobble, making Trys miss Jyke by barely a few inches

Lax cursed as he saw one of his engines start smoking. The bike wouldn’t last for long and to make it even worse; it had a high chance of exploding.

**“I can’t believe it!” **The racemaster cried in surprise, **“The new racer crashed into Trys to save the gamer. Let’s see what they do as they pass by Lirae’s viewing box.”**

Lax looked to the side to see a transparisteel box floating in the air where he managed to quickly see Lirae. She was watching him intensely and frowning slightly.

Lax tore his gaze away from Lirae, focusing on the track. He had to pull away from Trys to buy himself time to save Jyke. Where was Try-

The Feeling filled him, controlling his body to lurch the swoop bike to the side, just in time as Trys’s bike crashed onto the spot he had just been in from above. How had he done that?

**“We see a wonderful display from both racers there as Trys uses one of the ramps to try and crash down onto the other racer’s pod, yet the racer manages to dodge death by a vibroknife’s edge.”**

There were ramps? Lax hadn’t noticed them at all, but this only made things worse for him, as it meant he would have to look out for anything above himself as well.

He turned back to the track, desperately trying to pull away from Trys as he passed swoop after swoop. Yet, no matter what he tried, Trys followed him intensely always on his trail as he tried to smash into Lax and destroy him.

Soon they were halfway back to Jyke, which meant that Lax had to think of something fast. He somehow had to get rid of Trys and since he couldn’t outrun him, he could only crash him.

But his focus was put off by the crowd next to him suddenly screaming. Lax looked at them confused at what was going.

His froze slightly when he saw a wave of people rushing through the crowd, firing bolts at any guards and bounty hunters they saw.

The prisoners! They were out and attacking the Vornskr! Lax even glimpsed Padmé in their midst, holding her blaster rifle high as she shot at the guards and smugglers/

**“Attention all!” **The racemaster spoke, **“We are under attack! Please do not panic and exit the casino grounds immediately for your own safety in an orderly fashion!”**

When does any evacuation ever happen like that Lax thought sarcastically as he refocused on the track, ignoring the chaos that the announcement had caused? He could use the chaos they were causing to pick up… where was Jyke?

Frantically, he looked for any sign of where Jyke was. Had he run further away? Lax couldn’t see him. Lax’s blood ran cold at the thought that someone may have killed him. But he calmed himself when he realised there would have been an announcement by the racemaster if he had been killed.

Where was he then? Where could he have gone. No one would have taken Jyke without the racemaster announcing it… except for one person.

Lirae.

Lax was approaching Lirae’s viewing box and frantically peered at the viewsreen that showed the box to see if Jyke was there.

He was! Lax sighed in relief when he saw him, strung up next to a calm Lirae. But he sobered when he realised that this created a problem. Transparisteel was strong enough to block blaster fire and many other things. There was no way that Lax would be able to get there with the turbolift as it would be shut down immediately. Lirae could just safely wait out the chaos with Jyke, till her forces managed to gain control of the chaos. She would then tighten up security even more.

Lax had to get to that floating box as soon as he could. But as he searched for any sign of what to do, he could only think of one thing.

Jump.

There was a ramp just before Lirae’s viewing box and if a swoop bike was going full speed it could reach it. But he would need to make sure his harness was off before he could jump or else he would join the bike in its impending doom.

Lax shakily raised his hand to the three buttons in front of him, the emergency brake, energy boost and harness release.

But just as he was about to press on the harness release his hand shook! The ‘special’ bacta from before! It made him shake randomly and press on the energy boost button instead.

Lax was pressed back against his seat as his swoop sped up, he relentlessly fought to direct it to the ramp as he reached for the harness release.

With a surge of strength, he managed to press the button causing him to be released from his tether hooking him to the swoop. He grabbed onto the swoop much harder than before in an effort to stay on as he surged towards the ramp, slightly lifting from his seat from the speed he was traveling at.

He had to get off this swoop bike before it got launched into the air, but if he jumped, he would be killed from the impact.

He flattened himself to the swoop as the Feeling warned him of intense danger streaking towards him, just in time to dodge the blaster bolt flying towards him.

Lax craned his head to see who was shooting at him, only to be stunned when he saw Trys holding a blaster as he pulled along right next to him on his right and grinning at him madly.

Wait. He could jump on Trys bike to save himself! But he needed a way to distract Trys and keep him on course, or else he could move away from Lax when he jumped.

And Lax had the perfect thing to fulfil that exact purpose. Straining, he reached inside the bag that was flailing next to him, pulling out a folded-up droid.

“If you survive this, I’m officially naming you.” Lax murmured as he tapped the droid’s nose to awaken it, “Now distract him for me.”

With a grunt he heaved the droid towards Trys, taking him by surprise as the droid landed on his face. A perfect shot, he thought smugly.

The ramp was approaching quickly, Lax would reach it in about 15 seconds. As quickly as he could against the crushing wind, he bought his left leg to the other side, steadying himself on the madly shaking swoop as he did so. This might kill Jyke, but it was the only thing he could do.

“Thank the stars that this thing has quality stabilisers.” Lax murmured as he prepared himself to jump. The droid was still attacking Trys who could only use one hand to try and fight it off as he stabilised his swoop with the other hand.

The ramp was growing increasingly larger and closer and Lax had to time this perfectly, or else the swoop would miss the box.

It was coming closer… closer… closer… Now!

With a quick jerk, he angled the swoop to the side, aiming it towards the box and immediately threw himself of the swoop, praying that Trys’s swoop bike was there.

It was!

Lax crashed onto the swoop, causing it to swerve dangerously as it sank close to the floor, missing it by an inch, the propulsion engines working overtime to keep it afloat. Then the swoop suddenly clipped the floor slightly, catalysing a chain reaction.

The swoop spun, throwing Lax around as he clung to it dearly for life. Lax could see Trys thrown out, unprepared for the sudden spinning and unable to keep holding onto the swoop with one hand.

Above Lax his swoop flew through the air, crashing into the box with a large crack, breaking the transparisteel instantly and exploding as it brought the box crashing down to the floor to lie in a smoking and flaming wreck.

The swoop finally came to a stop, not spinning around anymore as Lax struggled to unclench his locked hands from the swoop. He shakily tried to stand, but almost immediately fell due to the dizziness. He groaned as black spots filled his vision and he swayed but managed to keep himself upright and breathe deeply.

After a few seconds, the black spots mercifully disappeared, and the dizziness abated slightly, allowing Lax to straighten himself up more, instead of leaning on the swoop bike.

_“You kriffing Kung!” _A voice garbled from the side, _“You think you’ve won.”_

It was Trys, he lay on the floor a few Kuba away, staring hatefully at Lax as he tried standing. But he would never be able to again. Both his legs were pulp and his right arm was more bone than flesh. His face was streaked with blood and some skin had been ripped of his scalp, revealing the flesh inside. He would not survive for long and would be in constant excruciating pain.

_“Well,” _Lax started as he walked shakily towards Trys’s broken body and drew his blaster.

_“I definitely beat you.” _He continued simply as he pulled the trigger, ending the man’s pain.

Turning around, leaving behind Trys’s still warm body, he walked towards the smoking wreck of the viewing box, stepping over fragments of transparitasteel and metal from the speeder. He would have run, but he feared he would fall over if he did.

Reaching the wreckage, he saw many corpses strewn over the ground, their bodies still smoking from the explosion and resulting fire. His hand flew to his blaster as soon as he saw a dark figure emerge from the smoke. It was someone who had been in the box, and he was wearing a mask, but as the figure turned to look at Lax, his blood ran cold.

The mask was broken in half, and through the open half he saw a face that he recognised. It was Inflier Grievious! But how? He was dead.

Subconsciously, Lax drew out the tube that Grievious had used and he had taken. His movement attracted the Kaleesh’s attention, who’s eyes fixated on the tube.

“So,” The Kaleesh hissed, as he malevolently glared at him, “It was you.”

“It was me?” Lax questioned as he raised the tube, ready to defend himself.

“Who killed my nephew.” The Kaleesh coughed from the explosion, “Inflier Grievious.”

Lax paled as soon as he heard that this Kaleesh was Grievious’s uncle, but he tried to remain outwardly calm, “What makes you say that.”

“Do you take me for a fool Zeltron, boy?!” Grievious growled dangerously, “That knife is the Grievious families. Taken from the corpse of a Jedi by my ancestors as their prize.”

“Fine then.” Lax said resolutely staring Grievious in the eyes, “I killed him. What are you going to do about it?”

“Oh, you have done much more than that boy.” Grievious growled as he stalked closer to Lax, but halted when Lax raised the knife, “You have ruined mine and the Trade Federation’s plan for Courkrus by destroying this box. You have been helping the young Queen of Naboo escape from our grasp as well.”

Lax frowned when he heard about Grievious and the Trade Federation helping Lirae, “You and the Trade Federation were the ones who supported Lirae?”

“Of course.” Grievious said proudly, “Who else could bring this planet to its knees so quickly.”

“But now you have ruined that plan.” Grievious hissed as he drew himself up to his full height, which made him tower over Lax, “You will pay for that, as you will pay for all your other actions.”

“Really?” Lax replied, as he drew himself into a combat position, lifting up the blaster to aim at Grievious and bracing himself for a difficult fight, “You can try.”

Grievious stared at him, before looking to the side, and grinning, “I will try. But,” He turned around to face away from Lax, and looked over his shoulder, “That will have to wait till you come to Naboo.”

He then walked away, not looking at Lax even once as he stalked away, disappearing into the smoke. His cloak floating behind him as he disappeared.

Lax looked to the side, seeing the crowd of prisoners, led by Padmé rushing towards with many others in their ranks. Grievious wouldn’t fight him till he was alone or with less people then. Lax didn’t know if he would be able to beat him. But maybe he could get the Jedi to help him.

However, for now, he had to look for Jyke. He swiftly walked through the wreckage scanning it for any sign of Jyke.

“Jyke! Jyke!” Lax called, in the small hope that he was alive, “It’s Laxis. I’m here to save you.”

“You did a kriffing horrible job of it then.” A voice groaned out beside him. Jyke’s!

Lax rushed to Jyke, propping him up, sighing in relief as he said, “Thank the stars you’re okay.”

“If you call this okay, I worry to see what you think is bad.” Jyke groaned, opening his gaunt blue eyes and squinting immediately from the rush of light.

Lax laughed at the reply, “Your personality wasn’t damaged, that’s for sure.”

“And hopefully it never will,” Jyke replied, before struggling to stand, “Help me up.”

“You sure.” Lax replied worriedly, as he stabilised Jyke, “You’re injured.”

“I’m sure.” Jyke answered as he stifled a moan of pain when he managed to fully stand up, “Thanks for saving me Lax.”

“Hey,” Lax laughed, “I thought that if we did it once, why not twice.”

“Where is Padmé?” Jyke replied squinting as he looked around, “Is she okay?”

“I saw her in the crowd there.” Lax motioned to the crowd of freed prisoners that were rushing towards them, “We saved them from the prisons.”

“You have a saving-people thing, don’t you?” Jyke queried.

“Do you want me not to have it?” Lax answered, raising his eyebrow at Jyke who rolled his eyes.

“No.” Jyke huffed, as he struggled to laugh, but he grew sober quickly as he asked, “Did I hear right? That the Trade Federation helped Lirae do this?”

They both stopped talking when they heard a groan a few metres away. A woman was struggling to sit up, as she lied against the wreckage of the swoop bike. Lirae.

Her red hair was matted, and her blazing green eyes had dulled to a lifeless green colour. Her leg was pinned underneath a large piece of wreckage as she rested against the swoop bike wreck.

Next to Lax, Jyke growled as he wrenched himself away from Lax, stumbling towards Lirae with hate filled eyes. Lax followed him, ready to support him if he fell.

They came to a stop before Lirae who was now looking at Jyke who loomed above her as he glared at her.

“Jyke.”

“Lirae.”

“Why?” Jyke’s voice cracked slightly at the end as pain seeped through his voice.

“Why?” Lirae repeated dully, “Because I wanted power.”

“You betrayed me just because of power?” Jyke croaked hoarsely, “You tortured and tried to kill me, the man who loved you for power!”

Lirae looked at him simply, her dull eyes staring at him without any emotion even flickering across them.

“Yes”

“I loved you Lirae.” Jyke said, tears streaming down his face as he stared at her desperately, “And you destroyed me for power. I thought I knew you better.”

Lirae started shaking, her coughs sounding through the air. She was laughing Lax realised, as if she found something funny.

“You never knew me!” She cried maniacally, “You just knew an act, a person that didn’t exist. You were a blind fool and that’s why I betrayed you. You were too weak to be Courkrus’s most powerful person, you were naïve and helpless.”

“You never knew me, because I never loved you. You were a way for me to get power and it would have worked if not for YOU!” She shouted as she whipped her face around to look at Lax, her eyes finally blazing to life as she gnashed her teeth.

“Yes,” Jyke replied, drying his tears with one hand as he opened his hand to Lax with the other, “You never loved me.”

He took the blaster that Lax held out to him and stepped closer to Lirae, “I am a fool yes.”

“But,” Jyke said, raising the blaster to aim at Lirae, “I loved you and I paid for it, but now you’ve lost Lirae. You betrayed me, tortured me, for power and now you have none.”

“Oh, I have done much more.” Lirae said calmly, a stark contrast to seconds earlier, realisation flitted across her eyes as she relaxed backwards, “So much more, but yes, I failed. And now I must pay my due. Like all of us must do.”

“Yes, you do.” Jyke said, the hand holding the blaster shaking slightly at what he was about to do, “Your payment is death.”

With a flash of light, the glint of life in Lirae’s eyes faded away, her eyes staring forward, forever punished to see nothing but darkness for eternity.

Jyke dropped to his knees next to Lirae’s body his head bowed down as he shook with silent tears.

Stepping forward Lax rested a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him about what he had done.

It was done.

**Did you like the Grievious reveal?**

**Also, only 2 more chapters of TPM. I’m getting there. Almost 1/3 of the way there.**

**Tell me what you liked, what mistakes you noticed. I always miss something.**

**Otherwise I hope you enjoyed.**

**Baai**


	9. Chapter 9

**Here’s the newest chapter. Hope you enjoy.**

**Klicks-Short for Kilometer.**

Hyperspace invoked contrasting feelings in Lax. For one the very thought of him being on a ship in hyperspace created feelings of excitement and wonder in Lax. He had often dreamed of flying away from Tatooine in hyperspace, together with Anakin and his mother. They would be free, no longer slaves to Watto, but able to live their own life. Now that he was in hyperspace Lax could feel that joy of freedom bubbling inside him.

It had only been four days since he and Padmé had escaped from Tatooine and in that short space of time they had crash landed on a smuggler ship, escaped it while blowing it up and had a little bit of a problem on Courkrus. Well, a big problem, but it was done now and Lax wished he could forget that entire time entirely.

It was time to look to the future and the root of the problematic feelings Lax had with hyperspace.

Naboo.

They would soon be entering the Naboo system and arrive at Naboo. Well in around 10 hours or so. Part of Lax wished that hyperspace wasn’t so fast, that they had more time before they would need to face the entire droid army of the Trade Federation… and Grievious.

Grievious. The uncle of the Inflier Grievious, the first person that Lax had ever killed. Now Grievious was seeking revenge for his nephew’s death. He had told Lax that he would wait for him in Naboo. A certainly deadly and rage filled Kaleesh, who would likely beat him in a fight within a second, was waiting for him in Naboo. Great.

Lax tried to console himself by reminding himself that there wasn’t a definite possibility that he would see Grievious on Naboo. Furthermore, even if they did meet, Lax hoped the Jedi had decided to help. They would protect him.

Yet deep inside Lax knew that his efforts were futile. Somehow, he knew that he and Grievious would meet. No matter how hard he tried, he could not flush that feeling out of him. Now, Lax could only try to ignore it. He wished to go to Coruscant, find his family and disappear among the stars.

“You alright?” Padmé’s tired voice broke through his thoughts. She was standing at the entrance to his room, she was exhausted, if the dark circles under her eyes were any indication.

Lax turned to her, trying to smile as he did so, but only succeeding in creating a fake imitation, “No. Are you?”

Padmé smiled back thinly, walking to stand next to him, “No.”

“You want to talk about it?” Lax asked her as she stared out of the window into the lines of stars flashing around them.

She didn’t answer, continuing to stare out at the tunnel of light. Unreadable emotions were flashing across her eyes, matching the speed that they were traveling at. Lax could feel her emotions were in turmoil, she felt tinged with sadness and self-loathing.

Finally, after a minute or two, she drew her gaze back to Lax meeting his gaze as tears started to appear in her eyes.

“Is it horrible of me that a part of me doesn’t want to go back?” She asked, her eyes searching his for answers desperately.

“No.” Lax answered seriously, “It means that you’re human and not a droid like P5-S1 here.” He motioned to the maintenance droid that was standing next to the door, watching them curiously.

Lax had found it next to the wreckage of the broken transparisteel box and fulfilling his promise he had given it its name, P5-S1. Lax had no idea how he had chosen it. It had just come to him, like it was meant to be the droid’s name.

“It means that I’m human?” Padmé repeated, before she giggled slightly, “Are you sure that’s a good thing Lax?

“I’m still deciding.” Lax replied, grinning at her.

“Well tell me the answer when you’ve decided.” Padmé said, as she managed to calm herself, but Lax could feel the laughter still floating inside of her, running through her veins and filling her body. She was better than before at least.

Lax smiled at her once more, before more seriously continuing, “I’m serious Padmé. Only a droid wouldn’t want to leave. We’re about to head into a planet filled with droids, helped only by a few security officers and possibly the army of outgunned and outnumbered Gungans, who we don’t know will even help us.”

He took Padmé’s soft hand, comforting her as he looked her in the eyes, “You’re not a horrible Queen for wanting to leave. A horrible Queen wouldn’t destroy entire spaceships and infiltrate the base of one of the biggest crime gangs in the Outer Rim just to get to Naboo and help her people.”

Padmé smiled softly at him, tears slowly dripping down her face as she grasped his hand in her two smaller ones, “You really know how to encourage people, you know?”

“That I do.” Lax said, reaching up to rub away her tears, “I used to encourage Watto’s customers to buy parts. At a highly inflated price of course.”

Padmé laughed at his remark, her teary eyes sparkling, before she drew her gaze to the small droid standing next to the door.

“So,” She began, before enquiring, “P5-S1?”

“Yip,” Lax answered, “I found him next to the wreckage. He was slightly broken, but I managed to repair him with some parts I got from Jyke before we left.”

“Did Jyke tell you anything?” Padmé asked when she heard Jyke’s name.

“Only that he would try to help us, but he needed time to get ready.” Lax said, frowning slightly at the thought that Jyke couldn’t make it, “What about you?”

“The same thing.” Padmé replied, “But I told him we can’t wait long. We’re attacking in two days, with or without him.”

Lax nodded in reply, “He may be looking for Jisha. The one who managed to escape.”

“Possibly,” Padmé said deep in thought, “She should have the best information on who else helped Lirae.”

“He was pretty angry when they started talking about the Trade Federation and Grievious.” Lax said, agreeing with her.

At Grievious’s name Padmé glanced at him, curious, “Are you sure that Grievious will be there?”

“Yip.” Lax replied simply, unwilling to broach on the subject more, unwilling to face the fear Grievious caused in him.

Padmé gazed at him worriedly, opening her mouth to speak before hesitating. Slowly, she closed her mouth, choosing not to drive the topic further.

“Just make sure that you keep your eye out when we’re on Naboo.” Padmé implored him pleadingly, her eyes filled with worry.

“I will.” Lax said to appease her, grinning at her comfortingly.

“Good.” Padmé said in satisfaction, before continuing, “I managed to Master Qui-Gon, but only for a very short time.”

“Really?” Lax said in surprise, “I thought the entire planet’s comms were blocked.”

“It’s easier to get a signal in than out.” Padmé answered, “And as Queen I know our comms very well.”

“More training for the Queen?” Lax asked jokingly.

Padmé grinned at him in reply, before reverting to the previous topic, dodging the question, “He managed to tell me that they were waiting at the Gungan’s sacred place. We’ll meet them there.”

“Is there anyone else there with him.” Lax asked, hoping that there was.

“He only managed to tell me about his padawan Obi-Wan before I had to cut off the comms.” Padmé answered, before shaking her head in frustration, “But I have the horrible feeling that there won’t be much else from the Republic.”

“Well,” Lax started, “Let’s hope that there is help. But if there’s not, we can manage.”

“Let’s hope then.” Padmé said as she strode to the door, her hands leaving his grasp, “I need to sleep before I fall asleep on my feet.” She turned to him once more, “Thank you Lax.”

Lax beamed back in reply, “No problem. And don’t worry I’ll make sure the ship is on course.”

Smiling back, Padmé turned around to leave, heading to her bedroom, which was almost as big as the one Lax was in. This really was a luxury ship.

Deciding to check if everything in the ship was in order, Lax left his room, the small droid following him as he did. He checked the hyperdrive engines and the fusion engines, ensuring that it was completely undamaged. They hadn’t been able to spend too long on Courkrus before leaving. He didn’t know if he had missed anything.

After one full circuit of the entire ship, he headed to the cockpit, satisfied that nothing important was still damaged. There were some scratches and problems, but nothing major. Or at least none that he had found.

Settling himself into the pilot’s seat, he relaxed back into it, drawing the knife in its tube form as he did.

Holding it at eye-level he examined it minutely, checking for any details that he had missed. It was silver, with two lines wrapped around it, one red and one blue. The red line was glowing slightly, while the blue line had no glow. However, he found nothing else new. It was a completely straight long tube, with flat ends and almost completely smooth, except for one part.

A smooth bump rested close to one of the ends, sitting squarely in the middle of the two lines as they formed an oval around it. Pressing down on it Lax found nothing happening, which meant it probably was just for decoration.

Sighing, he lowered the tube. He didn’t know why, but he kept on feeling that there was something more to this knife-tube. There was something in it calling to him, but it was hiding as well as a Tuscan raider hunting. Meaning it was almost impossible to find.

“What the-?” He muttered in confusion when he felt a tugging on his pants. Looking at his feet, he saw the droid tugging at his pants as it looked up at him almost pleadingly.

“What do you need?” Lax asked, raising his eyebrow.

The droid pointed at the tube in Lax’s hands. It wanted the tube, but for what Lax didn’t know.

Lax laughed as he shook his head, “Not know. You may accidentally destroy yourself.”

The droid nodded in acceptance, its one eye blurring slightly at the speed it shook its head, before it returned to standing next to him, its head only reaching Lax’s arms while Lax was sitting.

Lax looked forwards, clipping the tube back to his belt, to the direction that they were heading to. To Naboo.

He sincerely hoped that after Naboo this was finished. His life had changed so quickly in less than a week. He had killed more people than he could count, while just a few days ago he had only killed one person ever. How many species had he killed? Rodians, Kaleesh, Gamorreans and more. The list was too long, and it seemed to be growing at an increasing pace.

Lax didn’t know how long he could go on like this… and stay normal. He had lived long enough on Tatooine to see what endless killing did to a person. He did not want to become a person that enjoyed the hunt, the kill, a person filled with bloodlust. But as time passed, Lax was afraid that he would become that person.

The only thing that he could find comfort in was the Feeling. Whenever it washed over him it soothed him, comforted him. In its presence he felt like he could take on the world, like nothing could damage or affect him.

Lax suspected that the Feeling was something more, as it acted suspiciously like some other invisible force he had heard of before. But he could worry about that later. Now he had to rest as well. He didn’t know what would happen when they arrived at Naboo, but he wanted to be awake enough to deal with it.

He relaxed back into the chair, the Feeling washing over him as it soothed his chaotic thoughts and emotions. Closing his eyes, he sank deeply into the nothingness of sleep.

He dreamt he was in the cave again. The warm breath that Lax had felt on his neck was still there. Slowly, it moved along his neck, the beast was moving!

A pair of yellow eyes appeared in the darkness, the only thing that Lax could see, barely a few inches away. The slits that were its pupils narrowed even more as gleaming teeth was revealed, inch by inch. Lax had never felt anything like this before. The fear, the helplessness… the anger frothing in the beast in front of him. It was glaring at him menacingly, its hate filled eyes gleaming with anticipation at its prey, its gleaming teeth appearing like a maniacal grin.

Yet, it stopped in its tracks as a blue light appeared before Lax, cutting him off from the creature, protecting him. The floating eyes recoiled at the sudden light, the slits dilating slightly in surprise.

What was this light? Why was it protecting Lax? It felt warm and comforting, like it was healing his tired mind.

“Lax!”

Lax startled awake, jolting upwards in his seat at Padmé’s voice. She was standing next to him, looking at the galaxy map on the computer.

“You were deep asleep.” Padmé said before she turned to him, beaming wildly in excitement, “I didn’t want to wake you, but…”

“But?” Lax groggily said, still waking up from the dream, slightly shaken at the aura the unknown creature had emitted and the blue light that had stopped it.

“We’re arriving at Naboo.” Padmé said excitedly, her previous sadness about her suitability to be Queen forgotten, “Right about… now.”

Just as she finished, they left hyperspace, the tunnel of light replaced by the maze of stars around them, twinkling brightly amongst the blackness of space. A planet that could only be Naboo lay in front of them, floating languidly in space, its serene appearance belying the chaos occurring in the planet at this very moment.

Green and blue covered the planet, painting a stunning image that penetrated deep into Lax’s mind. This was the first planet that Lax had seen that looked so beautiful. Courkrus was different to Naboo. Naboo radiated an aura of elegance as it lazily floated, a stark contrast to the dangerous feeling Courkrus induced.

“You weren’t lying.” Lax said, stunned at the beauty of Naboo, “It is beautiful.”

“It is.” Padmé replied, smiling softly as she gazed at her home, complex emotions flowing through her mind like a Tatooine sandstorm, fast and chaotically. But then she smiled, joy filling her features at returning home, saying with a tinge of pride, “And like I said, more water than Courkrus.”

“That it has.” Lax agreed, still awed by the planet, but his awe disappeared when he sighted Trade Federation starships orbiting around the planet. Only now did he realise a problem, “Padmé, do you have a plan to get through the blockade.”

Padmé looked at him, grinning wildly as she said, “I do actually.” She turned to the computer, navigating it effortlessly, “When we escaped from the smuggling freighter, I explored the ship’s database while you were healing, and I realised that this spaceship has a few upgrades installed.”

“Upgrades?” Lax asked, confused at where she was going with this, “Do you mean things like engine upgrades?”

“That and more.” Padmé replied, “Including a modified Blastech Mark IV Cloaking Device. Guaranteed to work for at least 15 minutes normally.”

“You want to use a cloaking device to sneak past the blockade filled with starships that is owned by an ultra-rich conglomerate?” Lax asked sceptically, “And why didn’t you tell me about this.”

“It’ll work, don’t worry.” Padmé assured him, “And I forgot about it while we were on Courkrus.”

Lax looked at her, scrutinizing her expression carefully, looking for any hint of unwillingness in her face. But proving her determination, she looked completely set on her goal, willing to get to Naboo no matter the way.

“Good then.” Lax said, straightening as he grabbed hold of the controls, “Switch it on then.”

“As you command captain.” Padmé joked as she swiftly used the computer to activate the cloaking field.

With a low hum, the cloaking field activated, supposedly hiding them from sight and from the watchful droids in the starships.

Lax moved the Angel forward, heading towards Naboo, coming increasingly closer to the starships, “We’ll be in their detection range at any moment.” Padmé said, intensely studying the computer.

“When?” Lax asked as he streaked towards Naboo, trying to maintain his distance from the starships.

“Now.” Padmé replied, looking up at the starships to see if there was any extra activity going on. Lax joined her in looking, ready to fly away at a moment’s notice.

They flew silently, intently watching the Federation’s ships for what felt like an eternity. A few starfighters flew by every now and then, likely patrols. Lax held his breath whenever one came close to them, desperately hoping that their cloaking device would hold.

“We only have 7 minutes left of sure stealth.” Padmé said as she checked the computer, “We have to speed u-“

She stopped talking as a starfighter flew in from the side, straight into their path, forcing Lax to pull the Angel up quickly, just missing the starfighter.

Quickly, Lax stabilised the Angel, flying above the starfighter. It had a Trade Federation Insignia on it, but it wasn’t piloted by a person. Instead it looked like the starfighter was a droid, unmanned and easily controlled from far away.

“Vulture droids.” Padmé said distastefully, “Annoying but supposedly much less effective than normal starfighters with pilots. It seems to be scanning its surroundings, they’re expecting us.”

“Shouldn’t we be worried that they will find us if their scanning. Isn’t that how you detect a cloaked ship?” Lax asked worriedly, watching the Vulture droid intensely.

“Our scanner is very high quality.” Padmé said, waving off his concerns, “Who ever owned the Angel before we took it was very rich and had likely done the exact same thing we’re doing now.”

“Good.” Lax sighed in relief, thanking the previous owner of the ship in his heart, “I’m going to fly straight down for a while. Just check to make sure we don’t alert the droid. We’ll get to Naboo quicker that way.”

Smoothly and carefully, he pulled the Angel down, below the Vulture droid, ensuring he did not bump into it. The moment they were out of the droid’s scanning range he sped up, blasting towards Naboo and where Padmé had inputted the co-ordinates of the Gungan’s sacred place.

After a few tense-filled minutes they entered Naboo’s atmospheres, they had made it! He swiftly piloted the Angel close to the ground, as it would be easier to escape detection when their stealth wore out.

“There’s so much… colour.” Lax said in amazement as they flew over a myriad of greens, blues and oranges.

“It looks as beautiful as ever.” Padmé said despondently, staring at the passing landscape. They were flying over beautiful clear lakes and grassy hills, trees dotting the landscape, standing tall next too magnificent waterfalls, “Almost makes it seem like nothing horrible has happened to it.”

“When we’re done.” Lax encouraged her, “There will be nothing horrible that happened to it anymore.”

Padmé smiled at him, about to speak, but was interrupted by the beep of the navigator.

“We’re there.” She said as Lax slowed down the Angel, coming to a stop as they hovered over a a bunch of trees that stretched out for klicks on ends.

“So, this is a forest?” Lax said absently as he studied the large forest.

Padmé giggled, asking, “Is this really the first time that you’ve seen a forest?”

“Did you see any trees on Tatooine?” Lax asked rhetorically as he set them down in a small clearing in the trees. However, around them he could see no signs of habitation, “Are you sure this is the Gungan’s sacred place?”

“Yes.” Padmé answered as she stood up and exited the cockpit with Lax following her, “The Gungans don’t think we know about it, but as Queen of Naboo its hard to miss where they congregate once a year.”

“Well then, let’s go meet them.” Lax said, lowering the Angel’s ramp using the control panel, “You have everything?”

“Everything I need.” Padmé confirmed, heading down the ramp. Lax watched silently as she stepped onto the forest floor and took a deep breath of the air with her eyes closed.

Then, she slowly let out her breath, opening her sparkling eyes awash with joy as she did so, “It’s good to be home.”

Lax smiled at her, choosing not to say anything as she enjoyed her return. But he swiftly looked to the side when he felt something tug at him from that direction, like something was there. He felt two tugs, from different directions. The Feeling was warning him, one of the tugs was extremely dangerous, which could only mean one thing. Grievious. The other was smaller and Lax felt no danger from it. But it felt much closer.

“Someone’s coming.” Lax announced, placing his hand on his blaster in case it was anyone unwelcome.

Padmé jerked her head to the side, following Lax’s line of sight, also readying herself for a fight if needed be.

Both let out a sigh of relief when a familiar smiling face emerged from the undergrowth. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Next to him walked another younger man in Jedi Robes, a braid resting on his shoulder. It must be his padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Lax’s smile froze when two other familiar figures emerged as well. One small and one large. It was Anakin and his mother! What were they doing here?

But his thoughts flew out of his mind when he realised. His mother and brother were here!

Lax immediately started sprinting towards his family, they were safe! His brother ran to meet him halfway. Lax slammed into Anakin, picking him up as he hugged him tightly, unwilling to ever let him go.

“You’re safe.” He murmured thankfully as he cradled Anakin’s head as tears dripped down his face.

“I am.” Anakin replied, burying his face in Lax’s neck, crying slightly as well.

They stood there, hugging each other, thankful that the other was safe. Lax never wanted this to happen again, he never wanted his brother to be in danger ever again. He wanted him to be safe and happy, never again a slave.

“And what about me?” His mother playfully asked as she stood next to them, smiling as she watched them with tears glistening in her eyes.

“I missed you too Mom.” Lax said, as he reached out with one hand to pull her in the hug, breathing in her warm and comforting scent as he hugged her just as tightly as he did to Anakin.

The small family hugged for minutes, unwilling to break apart till finally, Lax released his mother and brother, drawing away to look over them. They looked good, he couldn’t see any injuries and they looked healthier than ever.

But he was still confused, “Why aren’t you on Coruscant?”

“I can answer that young Skywalker.” Master Qui-Gon cut in smoothly, stepping forward to shake his hand in greeting.

“When we arrived in Coruscant, your family was provided an apartment to stay, but I then asked your brother if he wished to become a Jedi.”

“A Jedi?” Lax repeated in surprise, “How could Anakin become a Jedi?”

“By being Force sensitive.” Qui-Gon answered simply, before motioning to Anakin, who was grinning proudly while staying close to Lax, “Your brother is able to sense the Force and with training can manipulate it.”

“How do you know?” Lax asked, never having seen any indication of this.

“Firstly, his reflexes.” Qui-Gon explained, picking up a twig as he spoke, “They are too fast for an ordinary human.”

In a flash he unexpectedly threw the twig at an unknowing Anakin’s head, Lax spun around to catch it, but watched in shock as Anakin dodged it by a hair’s breadth by tilting his head to the side.

“Well…” Lax said dazedly as Anakin grinned at him, unruffled by the sudden attack, “I get that, but what else is there?”

Qui-Gon grinned at the question, “Your brother here managed to jump higher than my height in an effort to get parts.” Anakin blushed, ducking his head to avoid Lax’s mixed gaze of astonishment and laughter.

“That’s Ani.” Lax agreed, before continuing, “So I understand that Ani can become a Jedi, was he accepted?”

“No.” Anakin replied for Qui-Gon, frowning at the memory, “They said I was too old.”

“Jedi are usually taught from an extremely young age.” Qui-Gon interjected, “Yet, after we are done here, I will try to implore the council to accept Anakin. He has the potential to be an extremely powerful Jedi.”

Lax dipped his head in acceptance, before asking, “Then why bring them here? Coruscant is much safer than Naboo right now.”

“Unfortunately,” Qui-Gon said, shaking his head, “That is not true. Coruscant is extremely dangerous for them right now, as is most of the galaxy.”

“Why?” Lax queried, confused, “Who would want to hurt them.”

“Bounty hunters.” Qui-Gon’s padawan, Obi-Wan spoke, “A bounty has been set on them to be captured alive.”

“Bounty hunters!” Lax half-cried in shock, “Who set the bounty?”

“The Trade Federation.” Qui-Gon answered, “So I decided to keep them with me, where I can keep an eye on them and protect them.”

“Thank you.” Lax sighed as he worriedly looked at his family, fearing for their safety.

“It is a Jedi’s duty.” Qui-Gon answered, “No thanks are needed.”

“Now.” Qui-Gon said, turning to Padmé and bowing together with his padawan, “Queen Amidala. I am glad to see you safe.”

“Thank you, Master Jinn.” Padmé replied graciously, her demeanour changing as she took on the role of Queen once again, “Please stand. I will not have my saviours bow to me.”

Qui-Gon inclined his head in thanks as he stood, “I must, however, ask that you tell us whenever you wish to disguise yourself again. Otherwise, I cannot protect you to my fullest ability.”

“Please accept my apologies for the problems I have caused by disguising myself as a handmaiden Master Jedi.” Padmé responded, “It was only to better protect me from the Trade Federation.”

“Very well.” Qui-Gon said serenely, “Now I presume you wish to talk with the Gungan’s leader?”

“I do.” Padmé nodded.

“Then please follow me. He is waiting for you.” Qui-Gon turned to walk into the forest, Padmé following him gracefully over the twisted roots and fallen branches. Lax and his family behind them.

As they navigated through the undergrowth, Gungans started appearing between the trees, staring at them in open curiosity as they talked amongst themselves. There were thousands of them, milling around, their ears flopping behind them.

After a short walk, they arrived at a small clearing with a large tree in the middle. It towered over them, making Lax feel as if he was an insignificant ant. It wasn’t extremely big, but it was larger than the trees surrounding it. A giant among trees, sturdier and more awe-inspiring at its size.

At the base of the large tree stood a large Gungan, watching them curiously. Jar-Jar was next to him, along with a group of men and women in uniforms and three women in orange robes.

“Queen Amidala!” The orange-robed women cried at the sight of Padmé, rushing towards her and bundling her in a hug. Padmé hugged them back tightly, joyous at being reunited with her friends.

“Handmaidens.” Obi-Wan muttered to Lax, “They are her helpers. They were extremely distraught when she fled Tatooine and left them behind.”

Lax nodded in reply, before asking, “You’re Obi-Wan Kenobi I assume.”

“That I am.” Obi-Wan replied, grinning as he did, “Master Qui-Gon’s padawan.”

“Laxis Skywalker.” Lax introduced himself, “Hugely talented pilot.”

Obi-Wan laughed at his reply, “I know. I saw your pod racing. Very impressive.”

“Lax is the best pilot in the Galaxy!” Anakin exclaimed next to them excitedly, bouncing up and down, “He’s won the pod race 4 times now.”

Lax grinned at Anakin’s exuberant statement, ruffling Anakin’s hair, “Not the best pilot pipsqueak. I’m up there, but not the best.”

Obi-Wan laughed, his braid swaying as he shook, “We’ll have to see if you’re the best later then. For now,” He nodded to Padmé, “We have business to do.”

**Padmé POV**

Padmé slowly extracted herself from her handmaidens’ grasp, elated at being reunited with them finally. She had sometimes feared that she would never see them again.

“I’m so happy to see you girls.” She murmured through the tears, almost unable to believe she was here on Naboo, reunited with her handmaidens and about to ask the Gungans for help.

“We are too.” Sabé replied, “When we found out that you had to flee Tatooine alone…. We could barely handle it without you.”

Yané and Rabé nodded, agreeing with Sabé’s statement. Padmé smiled fondly at them, before asking, “What of Coruscant and the Republic?”

Sabé shifted uncomfortably, an unreadable expression crossing her face as she glanced at the other two girls. “They…” She struggled to fund the words to say it.

“Can’t help us because they’re too busy arguing.” Padmé finished for her, shaking her head in disappointment as her expectations were met. She believed in democracy with her heart, but sometimes it could be infuriating.

“But,” Yané exclaimed, “The Jedi Council has agreed to help and have ordered Master Jinn and Padawan Kenobi to protect us.”

“At least we have that.” Padmé sighed, “Now all we need is the Gungan’s help.”

Her handmaidens shared uneasy glances, before Sabé summed up the courage to speak, “Their boss isn’t too happy right now. He likely won’t want to help us.”

Padmé internally sighed in frustration at the news, unwilling to show Boss Nass, the Gungan’s leader, any sign of weakness. Her entire plan relied on the Gungan’s. If Boss Nass wouldn’t help them, then she wouldn’t know what to do. She had to convince him to help her.

“Let’s try and change his mind then.” Padmé said, determined to succeed as she turned to the Gungan’s leader standing at the base of the large tree, watching them.

Gracefully, as befitting her status as Queen, she stepped forward to meet the Gungan, resolutely staring at him. He was angry about something; she could see that. Hopefully, she could easily resolve that anger

“It is good to see you well, Boss Nass, Leader of the Gungan’s.” She said, dignified.

“Itsa good to seeya to Queen Padmé Amidala.” Boss Nass replied, “Whysa are you here?”

“I am in need of your help Boss Nass. I need your help to fight the Trade Federation.” Padmé replied, desperately hoping that Boss Nass would help them.

“Help yousa?” Boss Nass replied, questioningly, “Why should wesa help you?”

“Because,” Padmé began, powerfully, “If you do not help us then the Trade Federation will find this place and attack you, and based on you being here at this time, I presume you have already had to flee from attack on your city.”

Boss Nass fell silent at her argument, carefully scrutinising her, looking for any sign of deception, before sinking deep into thought.

“Mesa think that could be true.” He finally said, before suddenly pointing at her in anger, his simmering rage finally bursting to the surface, “But whysa should we help yous, when yousa abandoned Naboo?”

Padmé stilled, frozen in shock at the question. All of her previous fears and doubts crashed into her, overwhelming her weakening will to strive forward. Her thoughts flew around her mind in turmoil. She really was an inept Queen wasn’t she. Boss Nass had confirmed it, she had abandoned her duty, abandoned her people and abandoned her goal.

No! She wasn’t! All her life she had wanted to be Queen, wanted to help people, and she did what she could for Naboo. She had fled Naboo to safeguard her peoples’ freedom. If she was caught, then Naboo’s freedom could be signed away easily.

Like Lax had said, she had risked her life multiple times. Fleeing from Tatooine, escaping and destroying a smuggling freighter, then infiltrating the base of one of the largest crime syndicates in the galaxy. She had not failed her duty and her people. She lived by the promise she made over her Malab ring. Everything she did was for her people, the best she alone could do. A single girl trying to battle against the flow of fate. And she would succeed. With Lax, her handmaidens, security officers and the Jedi, she would win!

She was the Queen of Naboo! She was Padmé Amidala, daughter of Ruwee and Jobal Naberrie and she would stand by her beliefs!

She was Queen! And she would not accept anyone doubting her! Not even herself.

“Abandoned Naboo!” Padmé cried, her eyes flaring in anger, shocking Boss Nass, “I have never and never will abandon Naboo.”

She strode forward to glare at Boss Nass from close up, leaning in closely, “Everything I have done is for Naboo and its people! I am Queen of Naboo, and its people protector and I will fight for them!”

“And,” She started, jabbing her finger at Boss Nass, who was still staring at her in shock, “You dare say I have abandoned Naboo!? At least I have done something while you sit here, watching as Naboo burns and wails, doing nothing!”

She drew back, “I have nothing more to say to you. Except, that I will fight for Naboo and her people, with…” She turned around to walk away, powerfully saying “Or without you.”

With that she strode away, holding her head up high, heading towards her handmaidens, the Jedi, who were smiling knowingly, and Lax. They were staring at her in complete shock at what she had done, but as she walked closer to them, Lax’s shocked look slowly morphed into a smile tinged with pride at him.

Padmé smiled at him, her confidence soaring at his approval. She had come to rely on his help and encouragement, and it meant a lot to her that he supported her unwaveringly. She would help him as much as he could. She knew that he was worried about Grievious, somehow, she often knew what he was feeling. She had felt the fear that had pervaded his mind when she talked to him, so she had left it alone, unwilling to hurt him or force him to talk about it.

As he had helped her, she would help him.

“Wait!” Boss Nass’s voice called out as she had almost reached her friends and supporters, stopping her in her tracks.

“Yes?” She replied calmly, a big change from her previous anger. She turned to look at him, raising an elegant eyebrow as she did.

Boss Nass was grinning as he walked to her, “Isa like you. Yousa have spirit. Yousa a real Queen.”

He came to a rest before Padmé, before awkwardly extending one of his hands, unused to the gesture, “Wesa will help yousa. Wesa will fight the Trade Federation and beat them.”

Padmé internally sighed in relief, reaching out to shake Boss Nass’s hand, “Thank you Boss Nass. We will fight together then.”

“Yesa, we will.” Boss Nass agreed, before turning to his people, bellowing, “Wesa will fight the droids with the humans. Ready yousa weapons!”

The Gungans and Humans cried out in support, raising their hands. Their cries echoed of trees, sending flocks of birds into the air.

The war was coming, and she was ready for it. The Trade Federation had their chance, they started it.

She would end it.

**Laxis POV**

“She is a good Queen.” Qui-Gon commented to Lax as they watched Padmé stand next to Boss Nass, overlooking the cheering crowds.

“She is.” Lax agreed, letting out a whoop in support for Padmé.

“I must talk to you about something.” Qui-Gon muttered, motioning to the side, “In private.”

Lax dipped his head, following him to stand off to the side, away from the handmaidens and what Lax was told were the security officers. Gungans surrounded them, but not to closely.

“What do you need?” He queried, looking at Qui-Gon questioningly.

“Do you ever have a feeling overcome you, something that warns you and calms you?” Qui-Gon asked, watching him intensely.

Lax stilled at the question, why was Master Jinn asking about the Feeling, were Lax’s suspicions true after all. Was it-

“The Force.” Lax muttered breathlessly as his mind worked at the speed of light, processing this confirmation.

“Yes.” Qui-Gon confirmed, “I suspected that you were unknowingly using it since I met you and now you have confirmed it.”

“What is it exactly?” Lax asked, desperate for an answer.

“There is no exact definition of it.” Qui-Gon replied, “It influences you, supports you, warns you, surrounds you and protects you. It is always there.”

“What can it do?” Lax stared at his hands, almost willing the Force to do something.

“The possibilities are limitless.” Qui-Gon replied, knowingly smiling, “Augmented jumps, force pushes, influencing the mind,” He leaned forward, closer to Lax, eyes watching him intently “Immortality.”

“Yet,” He continued returning to his normal standing position farther away from a shocked Lax, “It is extremely hard to manipulate it to that degree. Mostly it comes in moments of danger, as I suspect you have experienced, and in that moment, you are no longer in control of your body. For that short moment you are no longer Human or Twi’lek or any other species.”

“For that moment.” He lowered his voice down to a whisper, a far-off look in his eyes as he reminisced these moments, “You are the Force.”

“A few weeks before I met you, I was attacked.” Lax said as he remembered what happened when Inflier attacked him, “Something took over my body, allowed me to dodge his attack and kill him when I should have had no chance.”

“The Force.” Qui-Gon confirmed, “It can do wonderous things in those moments. They happen very rarely in a person’s life. The only times that it is confirmed to happen is when your first lightsabre is built, and you are a Jedi in the eyes of the force. The other is in life-and-death situations like you experienced.”

“It’s warning me.” Lax continued, his words causing Qui-Gon to pay close attention to him, “The person who I killed, a Kaleesh, his uncle is waiting for me in Theed. He is here to kill me.”

“Trust in the force young Skywalker.” Qui-Gon said, “It will help you when the time comes, as will I. Trust it. Now if you must excuse me, I have to return to Queen Amidala and Boss Nass to discuss our plan of attack.”

“Thank you, Master Jinn.” Lax said, “For telling me this.”

“It has been my pleasure young Skywalker. May the force be with you.” Qui-Gon replied.

“May the force be with you.” Lax returned, watching as Qui-Gon walked to speak to Padmé and Boss Nass.

He then turned to look to where the Force was tugging him from, where Grievious was. Theed.

The Force flowed into him, supplying him with confidence as he looked, deep in thought about Grievious.

Grievious was waiting for him. Waiting to kill him?

Lax smiled as he thought of Qui-Gon’s advice.

He would trust in the Force. If he died tomorrow so be it. But let it never be said that when the time came Laxis Skywalker would not fight.

Because he would.

Grievious and the Trade Federation should treasure these two days dearly. Because…

He was coming for them.

**Hope you enjoyed. If you didn’t like Padmé’s POV, don’t worry. There won’t be too many of them.**

**Review or don’t, the usual. Tell me what you like, what you don’t.**

**Also, I’m adding another chapter to TPM, because I totally forgot about epilogues. However, the next chapter might take longer to release cause life.**

**Adios**


	10. Chapter 10

**New chapter! Like I said would take a while longer because of life reasons.**

**Hope you enjoy**

Kuba- The length of a family of Jawas lined up. I imagine 2 metres.

_Italics-_ Commlink/Hologram

**Hope you enjoy.**

The water dripping down from the damp ceiling was the only changing thing in this tunnel and to make it worse, it made Lax feel uncomfortable.

The endless splat of the droplets breaking on the floor rang endlessly in his ears. He fervently wished it would go away and give him a few moments of peace. As…

Today it would end.

Today, the war, the deaths, the violence and betrayal would end. Lax was heading to likely the most dangerous place in the galaxy for himself right now. The Palace of Theed.

They were in a secret tunnel known only to the Queen of Naboo and her handmaidens. Every now and then they passed signal disruptors embedded in the walls, ensuring no scan would find this tunnel. The lighting was horrible, and it was hard to see more than 25 metres ahead of him. Some dull echoes would ring from the darkness behind them occasionally, making Lax even more tense.

There weren’t many of them: fifteen security officers, ten pilots, the two Jedi, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and Padmé and her handmaidens. And himself of course.

The Gungans were above ground, their Grand Army ready next to Theed. They would distract the Trade Federation while Lax’s group captured the Federation’s leaders, Padmé had told him Nute Gunray was one’s name. Hopefully, the pilots with them could also destroy the droid control ship before that as well and deactivate the entire army. Unlikely, but it would help immensely, and everyone hoped they would succeed.

Anakin and his mother were still at the sacred place, hiding there with the Gungan non-combatants. Lax didn’t want to risk his family more than he had already. He had endangered them when he helped Padmé on Tatooine, even if it was to help free them, and he wouldn’t risk them again.

Now, all he had to do was focus on surviving. But he knew that that was easier said than done. Grievious was waiting for him there, and he likely would be going after only Lax.

“Don’t worry about Grievious, Lax.” Padmé’s soft voice reassured him from beside him, “We outnumber him.” She was dressed in brown combat armour, agile and flexible and could protect her from at least one blaster bolt.

“I know that.” Lax said tiredly, “But no matter how much I tell myself that, I can’t stop thinking of him waiting for me Theed.”

“Don’t worry.” Padmé repeated, her brown eyes shining warmly, “I’ll be there to help you if he comes.”

“As will we.” Qui-Gon said behind them, “But remember young Skywalker, the Force is always with you. Always there to help you.”

“I don’t fully understand Master Jinn.” Padmé spoke before Lax could answer, “How is the Force supposed to help Lax? He is no Jedi.”

Lax winced inwardly as he realised that he had never told Padmé about him being Force sensitive. He had completely forgotten about it due to the rush of the last two days.

“Yes, your Highness, he is no Jedi.” Qui-Gon agreed, “But he is Force-sensitive. As are you, at least somewhat.”

Shocked, Lax whipped his head to look at Qui-Gon, catching sight of Padmé doing it as well.

“What!” Padmé whisper-shouted in shock, stopping in her tracks, “But I can’t control the Force. And I’ve never felt it.”

“Controlled it. No” Qui-Gon said calmly, still walking, “But felt it? Been affected by it? Certainly.”

“When then?” Padmé asked disbelievingly, rushing to catch up with them.

“Now.” Qui-Gon answered, “Yesterday, 2 days ago, a week ago. I suspect that the Force has been affecting you, influencing you, since the Trade Federation invaded Naboo.”

“How?” Padmé said, still slightly shocked.

“By influencing your decisions and your path.” Qui-Gon replied, “If you wish to ask for evidence then only look around you.” He motioned to the tunnel they were in, “You could have escaped through this tunnel, secure in the knowledge you would not be easily found. Yet, you stayed and allowed the Trade Federation to capture you.”

“Which allowed you to save me and eventually get to Tatooine.” Padmé murmured, realisation starting to dawn on her face.

“And meet the Skywalker family.” Qui-Gon continued, “Where you then fled with Laxis on a journey that has taught you much. About the Galaxy and its inner working. About the power of companionship and allies. And finally, about- “

“Myself.” Padmé finished, eyes wide in realisation. Lax was also shocked at how Padmé’s path, and likely his, had been affected by the Force.

“About yourself.” Qui-Gon agreed, smiling warmly, “The Force has led you on this path. It has helped you become the confident and powerful Queen you are today, a Queen that Naboo will need to lead it through this dark time.”

Padmé didn’t reply as she fell into deep thought about this revelation. Her chaotic thoughts were displayed by her conflicted eyes. The thought that she had inadvertently been led on this path.

“So, has it done the same with me?” Lax wondered, even though he knew what the likely answer was.

“Yes.” Qui-Gon replied, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Lax, “In much the same way. And as I told you before by helping you in your battles and supporting you.”

“Additionally,” He then looked forward into the long tunnel, smiling broadly now, making Lax feel confused, “It has affected you and Queen Amidala in another way.”

“How?” Lax asked, almost unable to believe there was more as Padmé broke away from her thoughts to look inquisitively at Qui-Gon.

“I believe that when you first met, the Force established a… connection between the two of you.”

“What!” Lax shouted, echoing Padmé’s earlier reaction, “A connection?” He softened his voice when their companions looked at him in surprise.

“A connection.” Qui-Gon confirmed, smiling at Lax’s reaction, “Have you ever felt as if you were experiencing Queen Amidala’s emotions? That you knew without even looking what she was feeling?”

“That was the Force!” Padmé gasped, “How can it do that?!”

“Just as it can do anything else.” Qui-Gon answered mirthfully, “The Force cannot be fully explained, no matter how much we try. The Force has proven to be able to do many things thought impossible.”

“Now,” Qui-Gon said, “It is not a Force-bond. Those are very different. But this connection has allowed you to support each other and to work well together, as I am sure you have needed to do.

“Why us though?” Padmé asked, “Why us of all people?”

“As I have said, the Force cannot be fully explained. All we know is that it acts for the benefit of the Galaxy and that is enough for me.”

“But what exactly does this Force-connection do?” Lax enquired, curious.

Qui-Gon shrugged, “More than knowing what the other is feeling and an inkling to what they are thinking, I do not know. These connections are not rare, just uncommon, especially concerning you two.”

“What do you mean concerning us two?” Lax asked, worried that the connection had problems with them.

“It does not matter.” Qui-Gon answered, waving off his concern, “Know only that the connection will not put you into any danger. It only brings benefits. I believe we have arrived.”

They had arrived at the end of the tunnel. In front of them the tunnel seemed to have no exit, the wall in front of them being seamless. Like the rest of the tunnel the wall was dirt, the only man-made things here were the signal disruptors.

“We’ll talk about it later then.” Padmé said, before striding elegantly to the barren wall. She pressed her hand on the wall at what seemed to be a random spot. But as soon as she touched it a bright blue light sprang out from the wall, scanning Padmé from head to toe.

A robotic voice emanated from the door, “Voice recognition required.”

“Peace is our duty.” Padmé spoke clearly, her voice ringing powerfully over the group, seeming to echo of the walls.

“Recognized Queen Padmé Amidala. You may enter.”

Swiftly, the wall split in half, each half sliding into the wall next to them. They revealed a short staircase that seemed to lead into some sort of hut.

Scaling the steps, they arrived in the hut. It was messy, with broken parts and energy packs strewn over the worn durasteel table. Even the lights were flickering they were so worn and old. Lax didn’t even know that could still happen to lights. Where were they?

“The old Droid maintenance workshop.” Padmé explained to answer his silent question, “It’s one of the oldest buildings in the Palace.”

“Now,” She started seriously, leading them to the door, “As soon as we leave the workshop we will quickly be found. As soon as the Gungans attack we can leave. But!” She whirled towards them, “Remember the plan! We must get to the hangar as soon as we can to let the pilots get their fighters. Then we head to the throne room to capture Gunray. Does everyone understand!”

She smiled in satisfaction at the crowd all dipping their heads in acceptance. Lax prepared himself, the battle would soon be starting, as soon as the Gungans were ready.

_“Queen Amidala.” _His train of thought was cut off by Boss Nass’s voice coming through the commlink everyone had.

_“Wesa are starting. Good luck.”_

“And good luck to you as well.” Padmé replied, her eyes firming with determination.

Lax looked over the assembled group before him: the Jedi, Padmé, her handmaidens, pilots, security officers and himself. This was all that they had to infiltrate the rest of the palace, destroy the Droid Control ship and capture Gunray.

It would have to do.

“We are starting.” Padmé started, her voice soft but resonating around the room majestically, she had straightened her back, reaching her full height. She met everyone’s gaze, her brown eyes blazing with fire and confidence, “Now we fight.”

She raised her hand in the air, confidence blazing around her, “For Naboo!”

“For Naboo!” Lax echoed, raising his hand, everyone else joining him.

“May the Force be with us all.” Padmé said, glancing at Lax as she did so, he smiled back at her in support. They would make it through today.

Lax followed Padmé as she exited through the door. They were now in a large garden; trees were strewn across the landscape with large bushes and what Lax thought were maybe flowerbeds. They quickly made their way through the gardens, running as silently as they could, hoping to get as far as they could before they were detected.

Along the way they only had to duck behind several large bushes to hide from a passing droid once. Otherwise the garden was empty, allowing them to reach the Palace easily. It had been the first droid that Lax had ever seen, and it didn’t look too intimidating or dangerous, which he thanked the stars for.

They entered the Palace, arriving in a hall with marble halls and beautiful paintings lining the sides. Crystals hanging from the ceiling and in the windows washed the hall in sparkling lights.

His focus returned to following Padmé who was running down a corridor to the left. The group passed through the maze of beautiful tunnels and halls, arriving at a large door, only for Padmé to stop in her tracks and signal to them to stop.

Lax skidded into a stop next to her, hearing her whisper, “The hangar is behind this door. The Trade Federation wouldn’t be stupid enough to have it unguarded. So be ready for a fight. Pilots, as soon as all the droids are down, climb into your fighters. Good luck.”

Lax nodded in acquiescence, readying his blaster to destroy some droids. They then burst into the hangar, which was a large room with a few starfighters in two lines. There weren’t many, but enough for their fighters. There was a small number of droids in the hangar, guarding. Only a few, but still more than Lax’s group.

Spotting a droid next to one of the fighters, he fired a bolt at its head. Not even looking to see if he had hit it, he whirled to shoot at other droids to the side.

Blaster bolts flew through the air, blue and red crisscrossing, but with far more blue than red. The droids were falling like Dewbacks in hunting season on Tatooine. He ducked to the side, hiding behind some plasteel containers.

He peeked around the side of the containers, spying a droid shooting at them from the corner of the hangar. Slowly, he aimed at it, steadying his hand to improve his aim. Squeezing the trigger, he watched with mixed feelings as the droid was hit in its chest piece. He had aimed at the head.

Standing up, he aimed at another droid, only for the Force to scream at him of incoming danger. Powerlessly, he watched as a blaster bolt streaked towards him, seeming to move in slow motion. He wouldn’t be able to move in time!

**Zing**

Suddenly, a blue lightsaber appeared before him, blocking the bolt and sending it back to its shooter. The surprised droid’s head was blown off, flying backwards to hit the wall with a resounding clang.

Lax turned to see that Obi-Wan was standing next to him, his blue lightsaber blazing in his hand as he wiped sweat off his face with the other.

All the droids had been destroyed, their smoking and broken parts scattered across the hangar. Unfortunately, it was not only droids that he saw laying among the debris. The brown and blue uniforms of the Naboo security officers could also be seen among the parts. Thankfully, there were not many of them, only 3.

“Thank you.” Lax muttered to Obi-Wan as he relaxed his tight grip on his blaster pistol, “You need to teach me how to make one of those.”

Obi-Wan laughed, switching his lightsaber off and hanging it on his belt, “Unfortunately, while lightsabers can be made, it is usually through instinct granted by the Force. Without the Force, explosions and faults are common. Otherwise anyone could make these.”

Lax nodded in reply before spying the pilots were climbing into their fighters and lifting off. All their fighters, except one which was destroyed close to them, looked to be in good condition, but there were so few of them…

And with them leaving their numbers in the palace had drastically decreased. They would not be able to attack the droids like they just did again. There were only around 15 of them left in the group.

“We have to get to the throne room.” Padmé announced, sweeping towards the hangar door once again. Lax and Obi-Wan quickly followed her, falling in line with Qui-Gon. The others assembled around Padmé, wary of any droids firing at her unexpectedly.

Yet, something was wrong. The Force was warning him of something…

With a hushed hiss, the door opened, revealing a hooded figure standing sinisterly behind it. His yellow eyes, speckled with red, were gleaming as he glared at the group assembled before him. The yellow, menacing, eyes swept over Lax, lingering on him for a second and piercing deeply into his soul, leaving him feeling empty inside as all the warmth was sucked from his body.

He shivered at the sudden coldness, stepping back, his hairs rising up and goose bumps appearing on his skin. This was pure evil. Lax had never felt so cold and afraid in his life. He was powerless as the hooded figure slowly lowered his hood, revealing his head to be covered in spikes that curved up smoothly, tapering into a sharp, shiny point that reflected in the lights of the palace.

It was the Zabrak from Tatooine. The one that had almost killed Padmé after the pod-race. Lax didn’t know how he didn’t notice the pain, darkness and pure evil radiating off him before, but now… He could barely stand it.

Padmé and her helpers were all frozen, their blood having drained from their face. The overwhelming dark aura that the Zabrak exuded had frozen them in their place. Only the two Jedi were fine, like Lax they weren’t frozen to place. Qui-Gon was calm and unchanged, having stayed in his place; Obi-Wan had also moved back slightly, and Lax could see that his hair had risen from the cold.

“Sho-ot… him!” Padmé, who’s face was pale and distraught, ordered, her voice tremulous as she managed to break free from the overwhelming aura. The rest of the group snapped out of their frozen states at the sound of her voice, most almost immediately raising their blasters and shooting a wave of bright blue bolts at the Zabrak.

Lax watched in awe as the Zabrak didn’t even blink as his red lightsaber appeared in his hands and he jumped forward, twisting in the air to dodge the bolts and blocking some with his lightsaber.

One of the deflected bolts had been sent back to the shooter, hitting him straight in the throat and making him fall to his knees as he gargled on his blood. The security officer fell forward, next to Padmé, face down.

“Stop.” Qui-Gon said calmly, moving through the crowd, who had stopped firing at his command, to stand in front of the grinning Zabrak who was leisurely blocking blaster fire as he slowly moved forward; discarding his brown cloak as he did. Obi-Wan followed him, similarly, shrugging off his cloak as he grasped his lightsaber with both hands.

“Your blaster fire will do nothing to him.” Qui-Gon said as he also grasped his lightsaber, “Do not try anymore. You do not have much time before more droids arrive in Theed. Go!”

He stepped forward, igniting his lightsaber as he did and raising it in an attack position, “This is our fight.”

Padmé hesitated slightly, indecision gripping her thoughts, till she sighed, “Very well Master Jedi. May the Force be with you.”

“May the Force be with you.” Master and Padawan replied synonymously.

With a large leap, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon streaked towards the Zabrak, lightsabers swinging as they tried to take him by surprise. But the Zabrak reacted swiftly, the other end of his lightsaber igniting into another energy blade as he backflipped to dodge Obi-Wan’s strike and block Qui-Gon’s.

“Let’s go!” Padmé ordered, already heading towards one of the side doors, not looking back at the lightsaber fight behind them.

Lax cast one last look at the fighting trio, muttering, “May the Force be with you.”

He sprinted to catch up with Padmé, away from the sizzling noises and bright flashes caused by the intense fight. But as he was sprinting towards the side door, he felt the Force warn him. Something dangerous was close. Not the Zabrak, but something else.

Which could only mean one thing.

“Stop!” He roared, causing the group in front of him to skid in their tracks in their haste to stop.

But it was too late.

Two of the security officers had already reached the door, sliding through it as it opened. Almost immediately, they were knocked back by the force of numerous large ion bolts slamming into them from beyond the door. Their bodies acted like Bantha bladders inflated too far, bursting open, with blood spraying everywhere.

They crashed into Padmé’s handmaidens, pushing them backwards and painting them in rivers of red, sliding limply to the ground with their eyes wide open in surprise. The handmaidens managed to stop just in time to not trip over the ruined bodies that lay before them.

Lax burst through the crowd, coming to a rest next to Padmé, who was now in the front of the pack. Her eyes were wide with shock and she covered her hand as she surveyed the bloody scene before her.

In front of them, beyond the door turrets lined the walls, six on each side, their tips bright and smoking. A bright red glow grew in the barrels, all aiming at Lax and Padmé. They were about to fire!

But that wasn’t what scared Lax the most. Standing in the middle of the hallway, grinning wildly, stood the person that Lax wished he wouldn’t see. Grievious. He wore his mask, fixed from when Lax had destroyed it on Courkrus. He wore a cloak that hid the rest of his body, but Lax could sense the smugness and excitement radiating off him. He seemed casual, relaxed; but Lax knew that he would be able to jump into action at the slightest moment.

“Grievious.” Lax greeted calmly, trying to hide any sign of his fear, any sign of weakness.

“Laxis Skywalker.” Grievious replied, Lax could hear the victory in his voice, “It seems that you can finally not escape me.”

Lax fell silent for a moment, what Grievious was saying was true. He could not escape, not with those turrets, but Grievious seemed to be a hunter. Which meant Lax could try to let the others go.

“But it’s not only me is it?” Lax motioned to Padmé and the others, “There are others here.”

“Not for much longer.”

A whining sound filled the air as the turrets warmed up, their inner red glow bubbling up to the tip. They were about to fire!

“Fine then!” Lax shouted, grasping his blaster, “If you shoot them, I’ll shoot myself!”

The whining sound disappeared as suddenly as it appeared, the red glow grew smaller and next to Lax, Padmé sighed in relief. Grievious threw his head back and started laughing mockingly, it echoed of the majestic walls and roof to create a crescendo of cacophonous laughter, striking deeply at Lax’s ears and making him grimace slightly.

Finally, Grievious’s torturous laughter disappear. He stepped forward, closer to Lax. His eyes, the only thing Lax could see on his face, were blazing as he seemed to strike at Lax with his sharp gaze.

Grievious clapped, his voice still carrying a hint of laughter, “Well done boy. Very well done indeed.” He motioned to Padmé and her group to go, “Leave girl!”

Padmé hesitated, conflict evident on her face, but Lax put his hand on her shoulder, encouraging her as he smiled at her. He softly said, “Go. I’ll be fine.”

Suddenly, she drew him in a hug, pressing her face deep into his neck as she breathed in his scent. Her arm reached into his pocket, placing something in there, hidden from Grievious’s gaze. Lax hugged her back tightly, wishing that this moment would never end.

“Be safe.” Padmé whispered, as she drew back, unshed tears magnifying the azure specks in her eyes Lax grinned at her in answer, replying, “When have I ever not been?”

Padmé grinned slightly at his answer, before whirling around to run to the other side door. Her handmaidens and security officers following her. Lax watched her leave through the door, wishing her luck and hoping that he would be able to see her again, that she would be safe.

“How touching.” Grievious mocked as he approached Lax, who was walking backwards in an effort to maintain his distance, “It almost brings a tear to my eyes that I will have to kill her later on.”

He stopped and leaned forward, the door closing behind him as he did, taking off his mask as he did, revealing his full true face at last. His face was deep red, like the colour of blood. Two black spikes sprouted from his chin, tapering downwards into sharp and deadly points. They reflected in the light, illuminating their vibro-blade sharp edges.

Lax swallowed at the threat, before firming his resolve and aiming his blaster at Grievious, replying, “I’ve never failed her, and I won’t start now.”

“True.” Grievious grinned, unaffected by the blaster pistol pointing at him, “But like you failed your family, you shall fail her.”

Lax furrowed his eyebrows, but still kept on aiming at Grievious, “Failed my family? In what way?”

Grievious grinned even wider, “Abandoning your family to help a girl counts as failing them, doesn’t it?”

“I left them in safe hands.” Lax answered, unphased at the accusation, “And they needed to get off Tatooine. I knew it would be safer for them to not go with me, I was the main target. So, I still don’t fully understand how I failed them?”

“Then on to the next example.” Grievious was still grinning and it was unnerving Lax greatly. Why would he be grinning so much? Why was he not attacking and instead speaking with Lax? Grievious was hiding something and Lax didn’t know if he wanted to know what it was.

“You did hide your family today.” Grievious spoke, joy bubbling over into his voice and eyes “But next time you use a stolen ship to fly to your hideout, check who the owner was.”

Lax paled as he realised what Grievious was insinuating. The Angel used to be Grievious’s! And if it used to be his ship, then that meant Grievious could have had a tracker on it, which meant…

“What have you done with my family!” Lax roared, anger and fear overwhelming him. His finger itched to squeeze the trigger, to end this Kaleesh’s life before him. No! He forced the anger away momentarily, fervently trying not to shoot Grievious. Grievious needed to tell Lax what he had done.

Grievious laughed mockingly, grating on Lax’s ears, “Your mother is currently on a ship to be sold into slavery.”

Lax almost fell as his legs grew weak at the response. His mother would be a slave again? After all that he had done, had risked… he had failed. His whole life he had strived for a day that his family could be free. He had hoped for a life where his mother could go a day without being forced to work. But now that hope was gone- finished. Unless! Lax had to find out where they had taken his mother!

“But,” Grievious continued, obviously finding joy at making Lax feel pain and hopelessness, “I believe that bringing your younger brother into battle is seen as irresponsible in most societies.”

“What?” Lax murmured, not understanding what Grievious was saying and still in shock at his mother’s fate, “I didn’t- “

He was cut off by Grievious motioning to the destroyed fighter behind him. Hesitantly, Lax backed away and turned around, trying to keep Grievious in his sights as he did, alert for any sign of movement. But the sight that greeted him when he saw what Grievious was motioning at caused him to freeze, as his blood ran cold and his heart skipped a beat due to fear.

Standing next to the ruined fighter was a masked figure wearing red combat armour. But it was the mask that Lax recognised. He had seen it only once before on one person. Jisha, the woman who supported Lirae the most. But that wasn’t what shocked him the most. She was holding a young boy, who was bound by mag-cuffs, by the back of the neck, holding him up to let Lax see him clearly.

Anakin.

They had taken Anakin as well! But from the sound of it not at the Gungans’ sacred place. They had found him here. Anakin must have followed them. The tunnel! Those echoes that came from behind them. They weren’t from the group’s footsteps, but Anakin’s. He then likely slipped through the security door just as it closed. No one was expecting someone to be behind them, so no one looked behind them.

“You see,” Grievious started, glee evident in his tone, “When Jisha found him and caught him, we both realised something. Both of us wanted to hurt you as much as we can because of what you have done to our friends and families.”

“Therefore.” Grievious walked to stand to the right of Lax, about seven kuba, as Jisha slung Anakin over her shoulder and walked to stand in front of them. Lax instantly raised his blaster and drew his bloodknife with the other, “We instantly thought of a way to make it so that in your final moments you will have suffer so much. And not from pain. No, from hopelessness and guilt.”

Grievious’s voice stilled to a whisper, “From failure.”

“Which is why we’re giving you a chance.” Grievious threw of his cloak, revealing that he was also wearing combat armour. He drew his vibroblade and a small metal plate connected to a handle, raising them up in a combat position. He continued, “A chance to save your brother. In the generator room there are turbolifts to the Droid Maintenance room, which is where you can also find a way to exit Theed.”

“And your job.” Grievious smirked, “Is to try and get your brother before Jisha can leave. Your last chance to save your brother before he becomes a slave again.”

Anger filled Lax at Grievious’s words. They had ruined his life, cursed his mother to a lifetime of slavery- and now. Now they wanted to do the same to his brother! Lax would kill them both for trying to do this!

Lax surged forward towards Jisha, aiming to tackle her to the ground quickly, because if he shot at her, he risked hitting Anakin. At the same time, he quickly shot at Grievious, who was now bounding at him, hoping to get lucky and hit him.

However, the metal plate in Grievious’s hand expanded, forming a large rectangle and a blue energy shield filled the inside. Lax’s shot ricocheted of the shield to hit the wall. Behind the shield Grievious snarled as he leapt at Lax, his vibroblade slicing down towards Lax’s head.

Lax reacted instantly. He whirled around to dodge slightly towards the left and bashed his bloodknife against the side of Grievious’s vibroblade to knock it off to the side. He took advantage of the short reprieve that it granted him to punch Grievious in the face, enjoying the pain that it brought to Grievious.

Grievious reeled backwards, shock overcoming his features at Lax’s furious retaliation. Lax sprinted towards the fleeing Jisha, who was now entering the core generator room. Luckily, she was slowed down by Anakin and Lax had grown up in Tatooine, a planet infested by criminals. He was fast.

Quickly, he came within five kuba of Jisha, who had reached the start of a walkway that led to the opposite end of the room. Lax was surprised to notice that Qui-Gon and the Zabrak were fighting at the middle of another walkway. Then, where was Obi-Wan?

This myriad of thoughts flashed through his mind for only a second before he ignored them, refocusing on Jisha. He would catch up to her soon! As he sprinted after her, the Force alerted him that he was being chased, that he was in danger from behind. Yet, Lax ignored it. White-hot anger rushed through his veins as he neared Jisha. She had taken his mother and brother and now she would pay!

He sprang after her, sailing through the air, teeth bared in a silent snarl as he aimed to tackle her. But then the Force alerted him loudly, ringing in his ears, making him finally understand that he wouldn’t reach Jisha like this. Grievious was right behind him, and Lax had just jumped forward, so he couldn’t twist in mid-air to fight.

Helpless, Lax could only bring his up his blaster pistol, aiming at Jisha and trusting in the Force that it would not fail him, that it would help him. He squeezed the trigger, watching as it seemed to travel in slow-motion as everything froze around him. With the sizzle of burning meat, the bolt hit Jisha behind the knee, where the armour was weakest, causing her leg to buckle and make her fall onto the floor.

Lax could only feel relieved for but a moment, before his leg was grabbed and he was swung around and thrown behind Grievious. Lax hit the ground hard, his breath was knocked out of him and he rolled for a bit, before coming to a stop just as he was about to roll of the walkway.

There was nothing directly below them, although there was one large walkway beneath them farther to the right. His bloodknife had rolled from his grasp, settling just a kuba away from him. His blaster had been flung off the walkway.

Lax lay on the floor, dazed slightly by the impact, before he rolled to the side to dodge Grievious’s leg that was hammering downwards towards his chest. He grasped his bloodknife as he did, and sprung to his feet, spearing the bloodknife upwards to stab Grievious through his chin, like he had done with Inflier.

Grievious reacted quicker than Inflier, swatting the blade to the side with his own and using the momentum to drive his fist towards Lax’s face. Lax ducked, missing the fist by the width of a hair, feeling the wind brought on by the strike ruffling his hair slightly.

He swept his leg towards Grievious’s legs, hoping to topple him as quickly as he could. Jisha was getting away! He had to finish this quickly! His hopes were unfounded when Grievious jumped backwards, dodging the sweep and responding by swiping downwards with his longer vibroblade.

Anger quickly filled Lax again as he sprang to the side just in time. Grievious was too strong and too good of a fighter and behind Grievious, he spied Jisha limping away, still carrying a struggling Anakin. She was more than halfway to the turbolifts!

Lax leapt towards Grievious, bashing and striking at Grievious with his bloodknife as hard and often as he could. But strike after strike, bash after bash, Grievious parried and dodge him, not fazed at all. Until finally, with a resounding roar, Lax threw his body at Grievious, white-hot anger overwhelming his mind and thoughts. He only had one thought…

Kill!

But his anger was swiftly replaced with fear as Grievious smirked in satisfaction, twisting his body around to make Lax fly past him- off the walkway and into the open air! Lax hung in the air, his mind was blank as he stared at the endless expanse of walkways and generators beneath him. Falling could only meant one thing. Death.

Unexpectedly, his impending fall was interrupted when Grievious grabbed him by the throat with his claw-like hands. Lax fruitlessly kicked his legs as he was swung back over the walkway. He scrabbled at the hand that held his throat, that strangled him.

“Did you really think I would let you die by falling.” Grievious spat in his face, “No. You will not die till you see your failure.”

Grievious thrust out his free hand, pointing at Jisha, who only had a quarter of the walkway left to limp across.

“When she goes into that turbolift, you have failed. You will never be able to reach her before she leaves.” Grievious started, and then continued with excitement crossing his voice, “And then- then I will ki- “

With a loud grunt, Lax was torn from Grievious grasp as they were flung away, towards the generator that marked the middle of the walkway. He was flung against the wall harshly, sliding down slowly the wall to sit on the walkway.

Black spots had appeared in his vision from the impact, but they shortly disappeared as Lax regained his bearings. Using the generator’s warm transparisteel to hoist himself up, he stood and looked to find out what had happened.

It was Obi-Wan. He stood at the other walkway, where Lax had seen Qui-Gon and the Zabrak fight. He must have used the Force to push Lax and Grievious, saving Lax’s life.

But Lax grew confused as he watched Obi-Wan bring his hand to his heart, patting it once, before turning to run to where his master must be. Why had he done so? What was he trying to tell Lax?

These questions crossed Lax’s mind, but no answer came as he realised that Jisha was nearing the turbolifts. He sprinted towards her, passing the generator quickly and rushing down the walkway to catch up.

Swiftly, he recovered from the impact of hitting the generator at that quickly, managing to reach full speed quickly. He swept towards Jisha, thankful that he had managed to shoot her in the leg and slow her down. He only had a quarter of the way left to go when Jisha reached the walkway, quickly using the control panel to open the turbolifts. There was four of them, which was common for droid maintenance as many droids could arrive at once.

He reached the turbolifts just as Jisha got into one. Despair struck him as he watched the turbolift’s ion shield door close behind her. There was no way that he would be able to get into the turbolift. She would leave any time now.

But Lax could catch up to her! He zipped to the turbolift next to Jisha’s, but stumbled slightly when a cable shot past him, smashing into the wall above the turbolift next to his own. As he slid into his own turbolift, he watched in shock as from below the walkway Grievious appeared, being pulled quickly by the cable attached to his own gun. A grapple. Grievious released the grapple, thrown forward by the momentum into his own turbolift.

Smashing the control panel, Lax heard Jisha’s start rushing downwards. Next to him, Grievious also activated his own turbolift, almost at the same time as Lax.

With the sound of rushing air both turbolifts shot downwards quickly. The inertia dampeners ensured that Lax and Grievious felt nothing and Lax watched nervously as Grievious walked to face him, slightly above him due to moving later. The only thing that was protecting him was the turbolift’s ion shields, which, were luckily very strong.

“You know,” Grievious started, his voice permeating through the shields as he looked at Lax conflictedly, “This has by far been the greatest hunt of my life.”

“Should I take that as a compliment?” Lax replied, unwilling to be shaken by Grievious.

“Most definitely.” Grievious replied grinning, “The number of hunts that I have done. The amount of people I have killed. But, from all of them, I have enjoyed this the most. At each turn you managed to outwit me. Tatooine, Courkrus, even now. Although you had help with the Jedi this time.”

“Does that mean you’ll let me go.” Lax tried vainly, knowing the answer already.

“No.” Grievious laughed, “I still want you to suffer for all that you have done. You have humiliated my family, stolen our ancestral weapon and ruined my plans. Yet, you have fought well.”

“I’ve decided to honour you for your efforts.” Grievious drew out a thin tube from clothes, a tube that looked very similar to two other ones that Lax had seen before. Which meant that it could likely be…

“By dying through the spoils of my greatest victory ever before this.” Grievious smiled, raising the tube, “The weapon of the Jedi.”

A loud hum filled the air as the lightsaber came to life, the dark green beam of energy crackling as it pointed ominously towards Lax.

Hopelessness grew in Lax as soon as he saw the lightsaber. They had a good plan. There was two of them and Grievious could likely beat him in a normal fight. And now he had to fight Grievious while he had a lightsaber, which could destroy his bloodknife easily. How? There was almost no way he could do it.

Even if he somehow defeated Grievious, by that time Jisha would likely have escaped and Anakin would be gone. Returned to the life of slavery that he had been gone from for only a week. Lax could only fail.

Anger was filling him again. Not at Grievious or Jisha, but himself. He had brought this on his family. He had failed his family like Grievious had said. Because of him they were forced to run from Tatooine and then come to Naboo because they had bounties on them.

His anger rushed through him. They would pay! He would make Jisha and Grievious suffer for making him fail, for making him fail!

**No!**

Finally, through the fog of anger, he realised something. He was failing because of one thing. Anger. He had chances to save Anakin, but he har ruined it through his anger. He had wanted to bring pain to Jisha and Grievious, unlimited, terrible pain. And because of this anger and wish he had lost. He had grown weak from the anger. If he had not jumped at Jisha when the Force was warning him, he could have taken Grievious by surprise then take down Jisha.

Anger had done this to him. Made him fail.

No more.

The Force flowed through him as his mind cleared and he lost his anger. He understood what Obi-Wan was telling him. He would win not through his anger, but through trusting the Force with his life, through his instincts from his heart and body and not his negative emotions from his mind.

Slowly, he backed away from the smirking Grievious, making him confused, the Force guiding Lax to stand in the middle of the turbolift. He raised his hands as the Force flowed through his veins, filling every part of his body as he became lost in the comfort the Force brought.

He became the Force.

Slowly, the bloodknife, in its tube form, rose into the air, hovering. Lax pulled his hands apart, and the tube mimicked him. The tube separated in half, causing a small 6-sided object to hover out of it and into his pocket. More things flew out of the tube, parts, hovering next to the halves. Lax recognised some, they were ancient though. A focusing lens, energy modulation circuits, power cell, power insulator and many more.

Again, the Force rushed through him as a small box floated out of his clothes, opening to reveal the sapphire that he had found when it all started. It floated to join the other parts, and one by one, part after part flew into the halves. Finally, only the sapphire remained, and it glided gracefully to settle into its place.

With a satisfying hiss, the halves locked together, returning to its original tube form. But it felt different. And it was different.

He reached out to grasp it and as soon as he grasped it, power and the Force flowed through him. It coursed through his veins, saturating his cells, filling his body with confidence and comfort. The Force supported him, bringing him peace as he slowly pushed down onto the small bump on the tube.

Soft blue light washed over as a sapphire blade of energy bloomed to life. The deadly thin beam brought comfort to Lax as he held onto a part of him that he didn’t realise was missing. He held onto the weapon of the greatest warriors in the Galaxy.

The lightsaber.

Lax breathed in deeply, his anger and fear completely washed away as he held onto his lightsaber, soaking in the feeling of being washed in the Force. Smirking, he turned to look at Grievious as he saw they were approaching the maintenance room.

Only one emotion could be seen on Grievious’s face. Shock. His dark green lightsaber, whose glow seemed to have dimmed before Lax’s own bright one, was held limply in his mind as he looked at Lax.

Finally, they arrived at the Droid Maintenance room. Through the shield, Lax could see that it was a simple room with workbenches, maintenance kits strewn everywhere on the tables and bunks and like normal there was a droid destruction room- a small alcove in the wall. There was also a small security terminal next to the droid destruction room, with a few holoprojectors for security recordings.

Jisha wasn’t far in the room. Her leg must have slowed her down by a lot. She was close to the garbage chute just a bit away from the turbolifts. However, Lax didn’t see the exit that they were going to use, which meant that he had time!

Taking comfort in that thought, he prepared himself as the doors on Lax’s and Grievious’s turbolifts opened almost simultaneously, with Grievious’s opening just a second later. Lax leapt towards Jisha, the Force aiding him as he jumped farther than he ever could have before. Landing just out of arm’s reach from Jisha, he ran into her, smashing her against the floor and sending Anakin flying from her grip.

Springing to his feet, he grabbed Jisha by the arm and twirled around to throw her against the wall next to the garbage chute. He thrust his lightsaber forward, towards her heart. Jisha jerked to the side, still slightly dazed at the unexpected tackle, but she couldn’t stop the lightsaber from plunging into her shoulder, causing the smell of burning flesh to fill Lax’s nose.

Only a small grunt could escape her before Lax swept his lightsaber away and drove his foot into her stomach, pushing the air from her lungs and sending her flying into the garbage chute, which she had been lying against, sliding downwards into the darkness.

Lax spun around, the Force warning him, meeting Grievious’s lightsaber with his own. Grievious slid his lightsaber down Lax’s, moving to the side as he did so, to cut off his hand. Lax disengaged quickly, lunging backwards to dodge the strike. Grievious took advantage of his momentum, rushing forwards to slice downwards powerfully with both hands. Lax parried, kicking Grievious in the knee as he did so.

Lax swiped at Grievious’s leg as his knee buckled. He watched triumphantly as it sliced an inch deep into Grievious’s flesh, through the combat suit. Grievious roared in pain and anger, throwing his body forward to smash into Lax, who couldn’t escape in time.

They rolled onto the floor, thankfully rolling apart, lightsabers still clutched in their hands. Lax rushed to his feet, parrying the endless slices and thrusts that Grievious delivered to him. He was growing tired from the long fight; he wasn’t a trained fighter like Grievious.

The Force was the only thing keeping Lax afloat as it warned him and helped him endlessly. Lax waited for Grievious to slip, for any sign that he could attack, otherwise he would soon no longer be able to fight. Finally, Grievious overstretched, leaving a wide opening that Lax could take advantage of.

Lax flew forward, excitement filling him as his lightsaber neared Grievious’s side. But suddenly, Grievious whirled around, his lightsaber meeting Lax’s as he grinned wildly.

“You still have much to learn Skywalker.”

Pain burst through Lax’s body as a blaster bolt hit him in the side. The pain intensified as Grievious threw him to the floor, making him slide across it, till he came to rest next to the security terminal.

Quickly, Lax struggle to stand up, but Grievious’s leg smashing down on his chest pinned him to the floor.

“Finally,” Grievious crowed, absorbing the feeling of victory, “The hunt is over. I must say you surprised me with the lightsaber trick. You fought well for an untrained fighter, but you don’t have enough experience in melee fighting to be able to beat me.”

Lax coughed in response, arduously trying to regain his breath. He wheezed as Grievious increased the pressure he was placing on his chest. Weakly, he tried to push Grievious’s foot off him, but his pitiable attempts only brought a smile to Grievious.

“It really makes me smile to see you like this.” Grievious started, “To see you suffer and fail. But I must see more. More pain. More anguish. More terror.”

He reached over to the console next to him, “Which is why I think it’s a perfect opportunity to show you how your friend is doing isn’t it?”

“After all. The Trade Federation did just announce something exciting.” Grievious pushed down onto the terminal, smiling broadly, still pressing down on Lax’s chest.

The holoprojector came to life quickly, displaying the scene in front of it clearly. It was a circular room with a large group in the centre. Lax’s heart skipped a beat when he noticed that it was Padmé and her helpers. They were surrounded by many droids that were aiming at them and Padmé and her entourage didn’t have any weapons drawn, Lax spied them on the floor. In front of Padmé stood two Neimodians, whom were both smiling victoriously.

_“Gunray.”_ Padmé’s voice crackled through the commlink as well as the projector’s speakers, _“I see you were expecting us.”_

_“We were Queen Amidala.”_ One Neimodian, now identified as Gunray, confirmed, _“And I believe that now is a perfect time for you to sign the treaty.”_

“_And what makes you think I would sign the treaty now when I did not before?”_ Padmé replied, dignified, uncaring of the droids surrounding her.

_“Must we go over this again Your Highness.”_ Gunray sighed, _“If you do not sign, we will be forced to keep on occupying Naboo and the Gungans will be exterminated for declaring war on the Trade Federation.” _

_“Furthermore,” _Gunray leaned forward to hiss, _“Some of these droids may malfunction and accidentally shoot some of your handmaidens and security officers.”_

_“But what if these droids are destroyed or disconnected_.” Padmé replied, although Lax could feel, even over this distance, that she had been affected by the threat. His heart was sinking as they continued watching. He desperately wanted to help, but he couldn’t, which Grievious was enjoying greatly if his wide, ugly, grin was an indication

_“You mean your pitiful number of pilots attacking the droid control ship?” _Gunray scoffed, _“They will or have been destroy- “_

_“Sir!”_ A droid spoke, cutting of Gunray’s gloating, _“The blockade has reported a problem”_

_“What!?”_ Gunray was annoyed at the interruption, _“What problem?”_

_“It seems that a large number of ships have arrived.”_ The droid replied, _“An entire fleet, much bigger than ours.”_

_“Who?”_ Gunray demanded as surprise overcame him, _“Is it Corellian?”_

Suddenly, Lax’s attention was attracted by another projector coming to life, producing the image of a person Lax had hoped to see.

Jyke Ryzle.

_“Good whatever time it is.”_ Jyke started, grinning wildly, _“I am Jyke Ryzle, leader of the Terantatek and this fleet. On behalf of the greatest families of Courkrus, I declare war on the Trade Federation in honour of our debt to Queen Padmé Amidala and Laxis Skywalker. Itys.”_

_“This,”_ Jyke continued, anger overcoming his voice, _“Is also payback for daring to help Lirae capture the family members of Courkrus’s largest families.”_

“Courkrus is ours and it’s time we taught you that.” Jyke spoke once more, before switching off, the projection disappearing.

Lax coughed as laughter overcame him at Jyke’s announcement. He had been hoping to see Jyke and he had come at just the right time. Above him, Grievious was staring confused at the now dead holo-projector, unable to understand what had just happened.

_“Sir, the enemy fleet is converging on the control ship.”_ The droid announced to a surprised Gunray, _“Shields are already only at 20%”_

_“Shoot them!”_ Gunray cried as terror overcame him at the report, causing fear to flash through Lax, _“Quickly! Before the control ship is destroyed.”_

“_Understood sir.”_ The same droid replied, before pointing at Padmé, _“Troops. Sho- “_

Suddenly, Lax watched with joy replacing the fear as the droid stopped talking halfway, deactivating as his head fell forward and his voice died out. Around Padmé all the other droids aiming at her group also deactivated, leaving only Padmé, her entourage and the Neimodians.

_“Queen Amidala.”_ Boss Nass’s voice came through the comm-link, _“All the droids hasa been deactivated.”_

Padmé smiled as she strode to her throne, pressing something on it to reveal two guns hidden in the arm rest. Swiftly, she threw one to Panaka, the head of her security and aimed the other at Gunray.

“_I believe that you will now be open to negotiation_.” Padmé said, smiling victoriously as she did so.

“No!” Grievious growled as he struck at the terminal with his lightsaber, slicing it in two and making the projection disappear. Lax laughed, although it came out as grunts as his chest seemed to be crushed even more. It was becoming almost impossible to breath.

“You think you’ve won?” Grievious snarled, his eyes wild, as he raised his lightsaber to point down at Lax’s chest, “Do you really think that I won’t kill you Skywalker.”

“No,” Lax croaked, still laughing, making Grievious pause as he listened to Lax, “I just think I’ll kill you first. Now Anakin!”

From behind, Anakin jumped into Grievious, throwing the surprised Kaleesh off Lax to hit the broken security terminal.

The Force filled Lax once more as it helped him jump to his feet and ignore the blaster wound in his side. He grabbed onto Grievious, twisting Grievious around himself, the Force strengthening Lax, until Lax threw him into a small alcove in the wall with a metal floor, the droid disposal. Before Grievious even hit the floor, Lax grabbed the thermal detonator from his pocket that Padmé had given to him when she had hugged him, activating it and throwing it in the room.

He hit the control panel, watching as a thick wall of industrial grade durasteel swept downwards, trapping Grievious inside. Only a few seconds later the wall vibrated as an explosion went off inside the room.

“The Droid Remains will now be disposed.” A voice announced, before a rush of air sounded behind the door and it finally opened to reveal an empty room, with blood splattered on the walls.

Lax sighed in relief as he saw this. Turning around, slowly, he hissed in pain from his wound. Finding Anakin looking at him, fear and sadness in his eyes, Lax rushed forward, ignoring the pain to crush Anakin in a hug, happy he was here. Because he had won. He had survived. And most importantly…

Anakin was safe.

**Hope you enjoyed. I really enjoyed writing this one, the most out of all the ones so far, I think.**

**This chapter was the one that I actually based my story upon and the one I was most excited writing, of the TPM time at least.**

**There’s one more chapter left in TPM and I really hope that you are enjoying the story so far. Writing isn’t my strongest suit, but I try, and I hope I make the characters at least slightly interesting.**

**Auf Wiedersehen**


	11. Chapter 11

**Here’s the next chapter. I hope you enjoy.**

_Italics-Memory_

**Andiamo**

Qui-Gon Jinn was dead.

Lax’s heart had plummeted when he heard. The Jedi master that had helped him, guided him… was dead. And now they were standing at his funeral, two days after his death. Lax had spent those days in the med bay, recovering from the blaster wound that Grievious had given him. He had been drugged most of the time and hadn’t spoken to anyone other than Panaka. He had been told that Padmé had visited him while he slept, but he had only seen her from afar since then.

Obi-Wan stood next to Lax, his face unreadable as he stared at Qui-Gon’s body laying on the burning pyre. He had been silent since Panaka had found him holding his master’s body in his arms. Everyone had left him alone, allowing him to mourn his fallen master.

Between Lax and Obi-Wan stood Anakin, he had also been silent since the fighting had stopped. He had refused to leave Lax, following him closely and refusing to let Lax leave his sight. The medical droids that had checked him for any injuries had told Lax it was likely shock. They had explained that the sudden loss of his mother and his capture had overwhelmed him, and Lax understood.

Even now, days later, he still couldn’t fully believe it. His mother had been captured and transported off-planet. While he had slept, he had been wracked with nightmares of his mother, lying broken on the floor of a cell and so much more.

Padmé had alerted the whole planet about her disappearance, sent people to search the sacred site and the whole of Theed. But… it hadn’t worked. Naboo was in chaos after the invasion and order had only somewhat restored to the whole planet recently.

His mother hadn’t been found and Lax knew that could only mean that his mother… would be sold as a slave. To make it worse, Lax had no idea where she could be. The chance of it being Tatooine was dismal, and Lax hoped she wouldn’t be there. But that left the rest of the Outer Rim, making it almost impossible to find her.

However, no matter what he would fi-

“Lax.” Anakin whispered, speaking for the first time, shocking Lax and breaking his chain of thought.

“Yes.” Lax tried to grin at Anakin reassuringly.

“What will happen to us now?” Anakin asked quietly, staring at Lax innocently and sadly.

Lax’s grin faded away quickly at the question. What would they do now? Truthfully… he didn’t know. He knew what he wanted to do, but with their mother missing, he had to take care of Anakin. He couldn’t recklessly risk his brother’s life, but…

Unable to answer, he could only smile thinly at Anakin and answer, “Don’t worry about it pipsqueak.”

Anakin nodded, turning back to look at the pyre, falling back to his previous all-encompassing silence.

Next to them, Obi-Wan looked at Lax, his steady gaze conveying his intentions. Lax returned the gaze, his hesitance easily noticeable, before he nodded once, completing their unspoken conversation.

Contemplating, he stared at Qui-Gon’s body. He knew what Obi-Wan was saying, but Lax didn’t know how he should respond.

Time passed quickly as the flames burnt on, growing larger and larger to become a great, blazing fire. Yet, Lax could feel no uncomfortable heat from the flames, like the Jedi it was consuming, it filled Lax with warmth, banishing the coldness and sadness that filled his body. The flames banished the darkness that had settled on Theed with the passing of dusk.

Lax smiled sadly as he realised that even after death Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was helping.

However, it didn’t last forever. The flames died down soon after, growing smaller and smaller till only ashes were left behind. The comforting warmth abated, leaving Lax feel slightly empty inside. Around them everyone was starting to leave. Padmé, who had stood opposite Lax smiled at him softly, dressed in her Queenly regalia, she was surrounded by ministers and her senator.

Swallowing his sadness, Lax smiled back and grasped Anakin’s shoulder softly, leading him away from the ashes. Obi-Wan walked with them, staring ahead resolutely, likely desperately resisting the overwhelming urge to go back and mourn his master more.

Swiftly, Lax and Anakin followed Obi-Wan as he led them to a group of people dressed in plain brown robes. Jedi. The group was assembled from a variety of species. There were Humans, Twi’leks, Nautolans- who had tentacles streaming from their head- and the one that drew Lax’s attention was a small, green Jedi. He was carrying a cane, and he had small wisps of hair that seemed almost invisible in the light. His eyes were peaceful, yet sorrowful, fathomless and wise.

“He is Master Yoda.” Obi-Wan said, his voice slightly hoarse, “The Grand Master of the Jedi Order.”

Master Yoda motioned to a building to the side, hobbling towards it, grunting as he did so. The other Jedi stayed behind, talking among themselves as they seemed to watch Lax and Anakin. Lax swallowed uncomfortably at the stares, brushing his hand against the lightsaber that hung at his waist. No one had asked him about it, mostly because he hadn’t been able to speak to anyone due to being in the med bay. But Lax suspected that wouldn’t hold.

The inside of the building was like the rest of Theed. High roofs decorated with beautiful murals and walls covered in luscious pictures and plants. It was peaceful here and Lax could imagine how life would be here. Calm and happy.

“Good to see you it is.” Master Yoda rasped, leaning on the cane in the middle of the room, “Happy I am that you are safe. All three of you.”

“Thank you, Master Yoda.” Obi-Wan replied, “I am glad to see you as well.”

“Thank you, Master Yoda.” Lax echoed, not fully knowing how to answer the old Jedi. Next to him, Anakin nodded slightly, mute.

“However, tragedy it is, what happened to Qui-Gon.” Yoda sighed, “Sorry I am for your loss. Missed he will be.”

Obi-Wan bowed his head, sadness breaking through his calm façade for a split second, “He died as he wanted to. Protecting the people of this Galaxy.”

“Yes.” Yoda agreed, “And for the part you played, a decision the council has come to.”

“A decision?” Obi-Wan furrowed his brows, “About what?”

“First,” Yoda started, “Closer you must come. Tiring it is to look up to you.”

“Yes, Master” Obi-Wan said, kneeling downwards.

“Decided the council has.” Yoda stated, “That a Jedi Knight you will be.”

Obi-Wan started, shock evident on his face, “A Jedi Knight? What about my trials?”

“A Sith you have killed, Obi-Wan.” Yoda replied, unfazed at the question, “Done, your trials are.”

Obi-Wan fell silent, eyebrows furrowed in thought. After a few seconds he nodded, “Thank you Master.”

Yoda dipped his head, before continuing, “Other things there are that you wish to ask, Padawan?”

“Yes, Master.” Obi-Wan replied, “I wish to…”

Obi-Wan trailed off as he looked to Lax, his eyes questioning. This was Lax’s final chance to decide. Should he allow Anakin to become a Jedi Padawan? Would he leave Anakin with the Jedi?

Truthfully, Lax didn’t want to let Anakin leave. He wanted to stay with Anakin and never let him out of his sight. But…

Before he had left for Theed, he had pulled his mother aside. He had asked her why she had allowed Qui-Gon to try and take Anakin as his apprentice. She had looked at him sadly and her reply had shocked Lax.

She had said that she couldn’t have let Anakin live his life happily. She was an unskilled human that had been a slave for her entire life. While his mother was thankful that they could finally live as free people, she wouldn’t be able to support Lax and Anakin.

Then while hugging him, she had said one final line that was invading Lax’s thoughts now.

“Promise me, that if one day I’m gone, you will do what you think is best for Anakin.”

Lax had casually muttered, “I promise Mom.”, in reply. He hadn’t believed that his mother would ever be gone. She had always been there. His pillar that supported him the best that she could. But now, she was gone. And he had to do what was best for Anakin. And based on what Lax was planning to do, it would not be with him.

Swallowing heavily, Lax nodded at Obi-Wan, he supported the idea.

“I wish to take Anakin Skywalker as my padawan.” Obi-Wan stated. Next to Lax, Anakin started, shock overcoming his features as he looked at Obi-Wan confusedly.

“Said we have already.” Yoda replied grumpily, “Too old Skywalker is.”

“But Master.” Obi-Wan protested, “There have been cases of Padawans older than him who have been accepted and he is extremely powerful in the Force.”

“Accept the boy we will not.” Yoda started, still refusing.

“Please Master.” Obi-Wan attempted, “You can see he must be trained and…”

“And what?” Yoda probed, curious.

“I will train Anakin.” Obi-Wan stated, eyes firmly gazing at Master Yoda, “With or without the council’s permission.”

Yoda sighed, “Defiant to the council’s will, you have become.”

“And what of you? Do you agree to this?” Yoda suddenly asked Lax.

“I do Master Yoda.” Lax answered, catching sight of Anakin’s shocked face turning to him, “I believe that it is for the best.”

Yoda looked at him thoughtfully, his deep gaze seemingly covering Lax and exposing all his secrets and thoughts. His cane was tapping on the floor rhythmically as he thought, echoing off the arching walls and unnerving Lax slightly.

“Very well.” Yoda declared, “Your padawan young Skywalker will be. Leave with us, tomorrow he will. Now, speak I must to the new Chancellor. May the Force be with you.”

“And may the Force be with you.” Obi-Wan replied, standing up and watching Yoda hobbling away.

“Lax,” Anakin said, his face wrought with sadness, “Why are you sending me away?”

Lax’s heart froze at the question. Swiftly, he bent down to Anakin’s eye-level, holding his shoulders and earnestly saying, “It’s for the best Anakin. With Mom gone, I need to protect you. You’ll be safer with the Jedi than with me. I need to go find Mom, so she can be free again.”

“But I want to stay with you!” Anakin protested, “I want to help you look for Mom.”

“I know.” Lax replied, “But I can’t trust myself to protect you out there. I can’t take you with me, knowing that one day you could easily die.”

He drew Anakin in for a hug, cradling his brother’s head, “I want you to be safe Anakin. And with me you’ll probably never be safe.”

“Then come with me.” Anakin begged, “Please.”

Lax drew away, looking his brother in the eyes comfortingly, “I can’t Anakin. I have to find mom and anyway, I think I’m already way too old.”

“But you have a lightsaber.” Anakin pleaded, “That means you’re a Jedi. You can use the Force.”

“I may have a lightsaber, and I may be able to use the Force slightly. But that doesn’t mean I’m a Jedi.” Lax replied, “I’m too old to be accepted as well. They may make an exception for you, but it will be impossible for me.”

“Also,” Lax continued, “I need to look for Mom. So, I can’t stay with you, can I?”

“C’mon now.” Lax smiled supportively, “I think it’s about time we get to sleep. And then you can dream of everything you can do while you’re a Jedi.”

He grasped his brother’s shoulder, smiling at Anakin’s newfound excitement gleaming in his eye at Lax’s comment, leading him out of the house. Obi-Wan, who had watched them silently, parted with them, heading off to his own room. But as he passed them, Lax saw the glistening of tears on Obi-Wan’s face as he glanced at Qui-Gon’s smouldering pyre.

Lax also gave the smoking remains one last look, thanking Qui-Gon in his heart for all that he had done to help Lax.

Then he strode away, leading Anakin to the rooms that Padmé had given them. He told Anakin to be ready to leave tomorrow and to meet him in the hangar. Everyone was leaving, Jyke, the Jedi and Anakin. He would leave soon as well, hoping to find his mother as quickly as he could. Before he left, he hoped Anakin would feel better, luckily Anakin didn’t usually stay sad for long.

Numbly, he collapsed on his bed, tired from all the recent events. However, thoughts were still whirling through his head. He worried about how Anakin was feeling, about if Anakin would be safe.

However, as he was falling asleep, one thought plagued his mind.

Had he done the right thing?

Waking up in the morning, Lax still didn’t know the answer. He dressed and walked towards the fresher, glancing at the mirror to see dark circles under his eyes. He hadn’t slept well he was so wracked by the question.

Washing his face with water, an act he still found alien, he shook his head to clear it. He had to focus on other things now. He couldn’t endlessly ponder this question, especially, as everyone was leaving today.

“Lax.” Jyke’s voice sounded as he knocked on the door, “Can I speak to you?”

Opening the door, Lax was surprised to see how tired Jyke looked, like himself. His hair was in disarray and his face was wrought with lines of sleep. However, his eyes were blazing with life, filling the air with energy as he smiled at Lax.

“You okay?” Lax asked, concerned, “You don’t look too good.”

“I’m fine.” Jyke waved off his concern, “I’ve been busy with some things. Just haven’t been getting a lot of sleep.”

“Good.” Lax said, before beckoning Jyke to enter, “So what do you want to talk about?”

Jyke shook his head, “Can’t talk here. I need to head to my ship, we’re leaving soon. I came to say goodbye.”

“I’ll walk with you there then.” Lax said, leaving his rooms, “We can talk while we walk. First, I need to check if Anakin is here.”

“He’s waiting at the hangar for you.” Jyke said, “He woke up very early and met with the padawan, Obi-Wan.”

Lax nodded, happy that Anakin was talking with Obi-Wan at least, “Then we can go.”

“Good.” Jyke said, leading Lax out into the gardens, “I think you need the fresh air.”

Lax grinned, taking in a deep breath, “I probably do. The only problem is there’s too much water. It’s weird.”

“Weird?” Jyke raised an eyebrow, amused, “I’ve been to Tatooine. The dry air there is weird. This air is normal. Soothing.”

“Well then, we can agree to disagree.” Lax replied.

“No.” Jyke protested, shaking his head, “We can agree that I am right.”

Lax shook his head silently, smiling, knowing he wouldn’t win this argument. They were deep in the gardens now, heading to where the hangar probably was.

Silently, they strolled through the magnificent garden, with lush and green trees and grass everywhere around them. Flowers were blooming, forming a myriad of colours that entranced them both. It was so peaceful here. No sign of the suffering Naboo had faced was present here. Life was blooming here, growing and multiplying. It was beautiful.

“Jyke.” Lax said, breaking the silence, unwilling to let Jyke go without saying this, “Thank you for coming to help us. You saved Naboo.”

Jyke grinned, “Don’t worry about it. And anyway, it wasn’t me who drove all the families to and help you. I just suggested this to them.”

They went inside the palace now, walking down the long and high corridors that Lax had fought in just days ago.

“We came to help you because of you.” Jyke continued, “Because of you and Padmé. You two saved me, saved everyone else. You know about Itys. They came to fulfil their debt to you.”

“Then thank you for suggesting how they could help me and Padmé then.” Lax said.

“No problem.” Jyke said, “Anytime. We’re there.”

Looking ahead, Lax caught sight of the hangar door. The large doors were looming over Lax; he was like an insignificant insect about to be crushed. Lax didn’t want to go in there. This would be where he would say goodbye to everyone… to his family.

“Lax,” Jyke said, grasping Lax’s shoulder, “Before we go in, I want to let you know that if you ever need help, come to Courkrus. Anyone there will help you, I will help you.”

Jyke drew his hand back, sadness filling his eyes, “Jisha took your mother. She helped Lirae betray an capture me. I want to find her as much as you. No matter what I will try to help you. Just ask me. If you just want a place to stay and rest, you can also come to me. You will always be welcome at Courkrus.”

Lax nodded, “I’ll come to you when I have news. Thank you for the offer Jyke.”

Jyke smiled, dipping his head, before heading into the hangar. It was bustling inside with droids, people and cargo. The people from Courkrus had bought supplies with them to help the people of Naboo.

But Lax’s sight was focused on something else. Padmé was waiting for them next to Jyke’s ship. Her hair was set in a complex single braid, layered with flowers, slung over her shoulder. Her face was covered in makeup, painting her face completely white.

“Good morning my friends.” Padmé said, as they approached, “It is good to see you awake and well.”

“Good morning to you as well.” Jyke answered respectfully, bowing slightly.

“Hello.” Lax replied simply, a stark contrast to Jyke’s respectful tone. Behind Padmé an old human man with a large grey beard recoiled slightly at Lax’s reply.

“My Lady. I must prote- “

“Enough, Governor Bibble.” Padmé said authoritatively, a frown appearing on her beautiful features, “Lax is my friend and it is not your place to question his actions.”

The old man gulped, staring at Padmé, aghast, “Very well Your Majesty.”

“Good.” Padmé said imperiously, before turning back to look at Jyke and Lax, “I am here to reiterate how thankful Naboo is to your people for helping us. If you are in need of anything, you must only ask.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Jyke said, “Your offer is appreciated.”

Padmé inclined her head, “Then I wish you safe travels.” She let her still face fall, a bright smile gracing her face, “Goodbye Jyke.”

Jyke relaxed, the previously heavy air lightening as he smiled back, “Goodbye Padmé. Till next time.”

Jyke turned around once more, nodding at Lax in goodbye, “And the same to you. Remember my offer.”

“I will.” Lax replied, grinning, “Goodbye.”

Tipping his head, Jyke turned around, walking into his ship, relaxed as he could be. Others followed him, boarding their ships. Humans, Rodians, Twi’leks, smugglers and normal workers Their saviours from Courkrus were leaving.

Jyke’s ship was new and sleek. The brown paint job was complete with almost no sign of wear and tear on it. Light glistened of the silver panels that lined the front of the ship. The ship was big and shaped like a spear, with a slim tube leading into a spear-shaped head.

Low whines filled the air as the ships’ engines activated, lifting them off the ground to hang in the air. Lax and the others stepped backwards from Jyke’s ship, watching silently as it moved out of the hangar, streaking into the sky, followed by thousands of small ships. Tiny dots on the horizon and sky.

“Now then.” Padmé announced, her imperial façade on once again, breaking the silence, “I believe the Jedi are leaving as well. Let us go meet them.”

Together, they trooped towards the group of Jedi. Lax released a sigh of relief when he saw Anakin standing with him, his face brighter than yesterday. He was grinning wildly, something which made Lax look at Obi-Wan curiously to try and figure out what he had done.

As Padmé headed to speak to Master Yoda, Lax broke off to talk to his brother and Obi-Wan. As he approached, Anakin quickly caught sight of him. His brother’s eyes were gleaming as he grinned, yesterday’s sadness almost forgotten.

“Lax!” Anakin shouted, excitedly, “Guess what! Guess what Obi-Wan showed me!”

Lax watched his brother, bemused at how he was shaking from contained happiness. Reaching out to put a hand on Anakin’s shoulder, stilling him slightly. He replied, “What did Obi-Wan show you?”

Anakin bounced, grinning wildly, “He showed me all of his powers, like pushing people, and pulling them. He even showed me how he built a small droid using only the Force. He told me I would be able to do that one day.”

One of Lax’s eyebrows rose as he looked at Obi-Wan in amusement. Who would have thought? Bribing Anakin with the Force would be enough to break him out of his shell. Lax had done something similar before with Anakin, but it was a Jedi doing the bribing this time.

Obi-Wan shrugged, grinning at Lax’s questioning gaze. His grin told Lax all he had to know. Who would have thought that a Jedi could think so sneakily? Lax only hoped that Anakin wouldn’t return to being so unhappy.

“And that made me think.” Anakin continued, wildly shaking Lax’s arm, “When I see you again, I can use the Force to push you over and beat you in a fight.”

Lax barked out in laughter, reaching forward to rub his brother’s head fondly, “You forget, pipsqueak, you’re not the only who can use the Force.”

Anakin grinned even wider, “Yeah, but you can’t be trained and you’re too old. So, I’ll be better than you. And don’t call me that.”

Lax bent his knees, lowering himself down to Anakin’s eye-level, “Well then pipsqueak. When I visit you, I expect to be beaten soundly. Alright?”

“Yip.” Anakin answered, smiling in expectation, before his face quickly frowned and he batted Lax’s hand away, “And don’t call me pipsqueak.”

Lax grinned once more, before grabbing his brother in a tight hug. He stroked his brother’s head, absorbing in his brother’s presence. He knew he would miss this, but it was for the best.

“Be safe.” He whispered in his brother’s ear, “Call me if you need anything.”

“I will.” Anakin promised as they withdrew from the hug, “Just make sure you find Mom.”

“I will.” Lax promised, his heart dead set on doing just that, “I’ll visit when I can.”

Anakin nodded, his previous excitement cooled off as he stepped backwards, slight sadness on his face, likely at the prospect of leaving, but Lax was happy to see it was only slight. At the core Anakin was still a kid, and they were always bouncing back.

Lax turned his attention to Obi-Wan. Stepping forward, he grasped the Jedi Knight’s hand, firmly shaking it as he stared Obi-Wan in the eyes, completely serious.

“Promise me you will protect my brother.” Lax said, his tone not accepting any argument on the matter, “Promise me you will keep him safe. He’s all I have left right now.”

“I promise.” Obi-Wan answered, his tone equally as serious, “I will protect him.”

“Thank you.” Lax said, before stepping back, “May the Force be with you Knight Kenobi.”

Obi-Wan smiled at the title, “May the Force be with you Galaxy’s Best Pilot.”

Lax barked in laughter at the reply, before stepping backwards, giving Anakin’s head one last ruffle. “Goodbye brother.”

“Goodbye.” Anakin replied, before picking up his bag and heading into the ship.

“Hey pipsqueak!” Lax called out, stopping his brother midway on the ramp and making him turn to Lax with confusion on his face.

“You better be the best Jedi in the galaxy when I see you again!” Lax called out, smiling, “Or you’ll be on the floor again.”

Anakin grinned, before nodding once and then disappearing into the large ship.

“Much work to be done, there is, before the best Jedi young Anakin will be.” A hoarse voice said from the side.

“I know Master Yoda.” Lax agreed, knowing who the speaker was before even looking, “But I think he can make it. He’s the only Jedi in the Skywalkers after all. He needs to represent.”

“The only Jedi in the Skywalkers, he is.” Yoda agreed as he hobbled to stand next to Lax, “But only because something else you are.”

“What do you mean Master?” Lax asked, befuddled by the cryptic Jedi, “What am I to you then?”

“Not a Jedi.” Yoda answered, “Teach you the Order cannot. But tell you this I can.”

“What?”

“With the Force feel out you must and learn you will that the greatest teachings in the simplest things will they hide. Goodbye, young Skywalker. May the Force be with you.”

“… And to you.” Lax called out belatedly after the hobbling Jedi, still confused at the cryptic messages. Feel out with the Force and he would find that the greatest teachings in the simplest things? Why would he tell Lax that?

Alas. His thoughts were interrupted by the Jedi’s ship rising and moving out of the hangar. Melancholically, Lax watched it leave, aware that his brother was on it, that his last free family member was there.

“He’ll be safe.” Padmé’s voice sounded from beside him as she came to stand next to him. Her arm clutched his own, holding it tightly as she watched the ship leave.

“I know he will.” Lax said, eyes still trained on the ship as it disappeared in dark grey clouds, “He has to be.”

“As do I.” Padmé said, before stepping backwards and smiling at him with a glint in her eye, “But I also know that I have to invite you to eat with me tonight.”

“To eat?” Lax questioned, smiling slightly, “Seems to safe compared to what we’ve done. Did you hire a few bounty hunters to attack us or something?”

Padmé laughed, “Only one or two. I think we can handle it. And we have to do it, otherwise we might not see each other for a long time after you leave tomorrow and I haven’t really spoken to you since the battle.”

“Then I think that I will accept.” Lax said, “Thanks Padmé. Also, I’m sorry for offending you’re adviso- “

“Don’t bother with him.” Padmé waved off his apologies, “I trust you with my life, and for that you can call me whatever you like.”

Lax closed his mouth, before nodding in acceptance, “Then I’ll see you tonight. I think I want to go take a walk.”

“Tonight.” Padmé affirmed, before suddenly leaning forward and kissing Lax’s cheek, “Goodbye.”

Dazed, Lax watched her leave, quickly followed by her line of attendants and helpers. Slowly, he raised his hand to his cheek, feeling the spot where she kissed him. Inside his heart was pounding as it seemed to echo in his ears.

Walking out of the hangar into the garden once again, he walked forward aimlessly, still deeply shocked. After a while, his senses started to slowly return to him as he woke up from his Padmé-induced daze. But his mind could not help but stay on the memory, replaying it over and over again.

Why had she kissed him? What did it mean? These were all questions he wanted to shout at the world, but he knew he would get no answer. But from within him a fire burnt, warmth bearing through his body, coursing through his veins and filling his body with strings of peace and calmness. The Force.

With the warmth, with the Force came a memory, a very recent one, _“With the Force feel out you must.”_

Closing his eyes, his centred his mind, focusing on the power inside of him, willing it to move out and feel anything. His tugged at the warmth, guiding it, pushing it to exit his body. Slowly, he felt warmth travel to the edge of his body, to his skin and slowly, but surely float into the air.

Lax let out and involuntary gasp as he felt around him. Everything around him, the ground, the plants and trees, the animals, their presence blazed with light in the Force. They blazed with the flame of light as he saw, but not with his eyes… but with the Force.

Around him, everything was filled with vitality, everything was shining with the light of life. Far off in the distance a presence tugged at him. No, not a presence, but multiple ones, faint ones. The Jedi. However, Lax was shocked when he felt another presence, another presence that indicated something related to the Force was here. And not just close, but on him.

Instinctively reaching out with the Force, he grabbed onto the presence, pulling it out onto the air in front of him. Opening his eyes, he realised that it was the small 6-sided object that he had found in his lightsaber. What was it? Why was it connected to the Force?

Intending to find out, Lax reached forward, guiding the Force into the object, hoping to glean some information from it.

Shock overcame his mid as the small object opened as soon as the Force delved inside of it. The object opened, allowing a small hologram to be projected from it. The projection was of a Twi’lek woman, who wore… Jedi robes?

The projection started speaking, “To whomever just opened my holocron. I am Jedi Master Ystralla of the Jedi Order. In here you will find the information and teaching about the Force that I have compiled in my lifetime. Using this holocron you can enhance your powers and understanding of the Force, becoming a greater Jedi. Use my gift well.”

The Twi’lek finished speaking, the projection disappearing as soon as she finished. The holocron stayed open, and another projection appeared… but this time it had information such as ‘Meditation’ and ‘Lightsaber Combat’.

Lax swallowed heavily as soon as he realised what this meant. Grasping onto the holocron, utter elation filled him as he realised that with his holocron, with this small object he could learn how to be a Jedi. He could find and save his mother more easily.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a droplet of something fell onto Lax’s face, streaking down his face and leaving behind a trail.

“What the?” He murmured as he looked up to see what had hit him, only to be assaulted by droplets of….

“Water?” Lax gasped as he realised what this was.

Rain! It was rain. Elation filled him at this realisation. He had finally fulfilled one of his dreams. He had finally experience what rain was.

The rain was gentle and warm, aided by the warmth of the Force. Looking upwards at the dark sky, he imagined the expanse of stars hidden behind it. He thought of the almost limitless space that his mother could be in and how hard it would be to find it.

But for once he didn’t worry about it. Rather he smiled as he enjoyed the raindrops falling on him and he clutched the holocron in his hand.

He had a feeling that everything would be okay.

**There we go. The end of The Phantom Menace. Hope you have enjoyed the story so far and if not, tell me how I can improve. Thank you for reading my story so far.**

**It will likely be a bit before my next update. I just need to figure out some more parts of the plot for Attack of the Clones, then we are a go.**

**I once again hope that you enjoyed.**

**Ciao**


	12. Ch 12

**First chapter of Attack of the Clones. Thanks for waiting.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

Everything was not okay.

This was the only thought that flashed through Laxis Skywalkers mind as he clung on tightly to the flailing speeder. He was on Coruscant, tailing a new lead, one that seemed promising, more promising than any in the past 10 years. But… first he needed to catch her.

The Nautolan was in front of him, in the cockpit, while he hanged onto the back. Sometime during their previous fight, the repulsor coils on one side had been damaged, causing the speeder to shoot upwards, corkscrewing wildly.

They had levelled off slightly, next to one of the many traffic corridors on Coruscant. The speeder was still jerking around, flailing like a helpless victim in a Rancor’s grip, but at least it was going vertical-

Well that was what Lax thought as the speeder shut down, the engines bursting into flame as they overloaded. As they floated in the air, gravity not yet taking hold, time having slowed down immensely, Lax glared at the cause of this new problem.

“P5-S1! I hate yo- “He shouted out, hopelessness flowing through him as he glared at the maintenance droid, who earnestly looked back to Lax from its perch right next to the engines. Its big eye was staring at Lax expectantly, waiting to be praised for his quick thinking.

His shout was cut off as he was lifted from the air as the speeder plummeted to the far-off ground. He barely managed to grab onto the seat in front of him, holding on for dear life.

“I’m going to scrap the little bastard.” Lax muttered under his breath as he clawed his way forward, slowly trying to come into touching distance to the Nautolan. His efforts were in vain, however, when she glanced back, sighting him slowly approaching her. Her black eyes widened, not expecting him to still be hanging onto the speeder.

Lax’s heart jumped when the Nautolan opened a hatch in the side of her speeder, bringing out a rectangular piece of equipment with what two triangular spires spearing out from the, and a cylindrical shape in the side of the grey body. The cylinders jutted out from the bottom, away from the body. A jetpack!

Growling, Lax double his efforts, streaking forwards as he watched the Nautolan don the jetpack, he muttered pleadingly, “Please don’t make me do this.”

Ignoring him, or perhaps not even hearing him over the rushing wind, the Nautolan activated the jetpack, dashing forward, away from the burning speeder and into the open sky, free from pursuit.

Or so she thought. With a loud grunt, Lax leaped off the speeder, his legs augmented by the Force as they pushed him forwards, after the Nautolan. He struck his hand outwards, the warmth of the Force flowing through it and out of his hand.

Feeling the Force wrap over the Nautolan, Lax pulled his hand back, the Force mirroring his actions. The Nautolan flew towards him, tentacles streaming around her as she was spun around by the force of the pull. P5 jumped at the same time as him, catching onto his black cloak and clutching on tightly.

Quickly, Lax grasped onto the Nautolan tightly, unwilling to let his catch go as she was flung into him. He wrapped his hands around her, locking her arms against her body, unable to move them as they flew on.

The Nautolan snarled, smashing her head forward in an attempt to knock Lax away. It hit his head with a thump, but the Force reinforced him, allowing him to feel little pain as the Nautolan groaned in pain.

“Tell me where she is!” Lax hissed, glaring, “I know you know where my mother is.”

The only answer he got was the Nautolan attempting to bite him, but he smashed his head into her, dazing her slightly, which caused them to wobble dangerously as they flew.

“Tell me!” Lax growled over the rushing air, using the Force to pull his lightsaber from his hip to his hand that was above the jetpack, “Or else I use my lightsaber to destroy the jetpack.”

The Nautolan stilled her struggling, fear appearing on her face, “You wouldn’t.” She hissed, “It would kill you too.”

“Do you want to test that theory?” Lax asked, his smile slicing through the air.

The Nautolan watched him, black eyes gazing into his blue ones, searching him for any doubt. Evidently realising that he wasn’t lying she slowly hissed silently, “Despayre. She’s on Despayre.”

Lax almost physically recoiled at the name, his eyes widening in shock as he processed what the Nautolan had said. Despayre. If she was really there, then…

“You’re lying!” Lax hissed, his eyes furrowing in anger, “Why would she be there?!”

The Nautolan spat at him through the rushing wind, “You can believe what you want, but I know that she is there, the bounty hunter took he- “

Instinct took Lax over as the Force screamed at him, warning him of incoming danger. Unconsciously, her grabbed the Nautolan, whipping her around, the jetpack blazing. With a loud sizzle the Nautolan was hit in the side of the chest. She slumped downwards, her eyes blank, causing them to fly downwards in spirals.

Groaning, Lax tensed his arms, holding on as tightly as he could as they shot straight downwards. He had to find some way to get off before he hit the ground. He faintly heard a beep as P5 climbed up his billowing cloak, which was flinging around wildly above the blue flames of the… jetpack. The jetpack!

Grunting from the effort, Lax grabbed one of the dead Nautolan’s, holding on tightly with his other. Wriggling it around, he managed to free the arm from the strap holding it. The jetpack whirled around, held only in place by the other arm. The waving jetpack drove Lax into corkscrews, the air assaulting his face like a plasma cannon. Through his teary eyes he saw the ground approaching quickly. He didn’t have much time left.

Calling upon the Force, it supplemented his strength as he reached out, slowly… agonizingly. Grasping onto the tight strap, with momentous effort he tried to loosen it.

The ground was coming closer…closer… closer.

Forcing the strap to loosen, Lax almost ripped the Nautolan’s arm off in his haste to get it off. In one smooth movement, he slipped it on, flipping around to right himself. The dead Nautolan continued falling unimpeded, her body spinning as she did so before she landed on the floor with a loud crack.

**Whoosh**

Lax dived down, just barely missing the bolt that flew straight at him, aiming directly at his heart. Quickly, he stabilised himself, settling himself down on the floor next to the flattened Nautolan. Whirling around to the direction of the shot, he managed to sight a figure encased in blue armour escaping off in the distance. Mandalorian armour.

“Oh no you don’t.” Lax muttered, “You just made the biggest mistake of your life.”

Running forward to the edge of the platform, through the throng of people that had crowded around him and the dead Nautolan, he sprung off the edge, his body straight like a blaster bolt. He blasted forward, zooming after the Mandalorian, cutting a trail through the busy air of Coruscant.

Dodging the speeders and freighters that called Coruscant’s air their home, he sped up, pushing the jetpack to its limits. The Mandalorian was heading towards the industrial sector below them, flying through the crowded power grids and factories that sprawled all around them.

Together they dived down, towards the maze-like alleys of the sector, above the dark void of the ground, where almost no light hit due to the tall buildings and power grids. They had left the residential are of the city by now and around them only transports flew. The distance between Lax and the Mandalorian had stayed the same, even increased slightly, but Lax flew on, determined to catch the Mandalorian.

Sighting the Mandalorian ducking down into the power grids, between two tall energy pylons, Lax rushed forward, hoping not to lose the Mandalorian. He zoomed between the pillars, quickly turning to dodge another and go around it.

Only to meet a blazing blaster bolt flying straight at him. Lax reacted quickly, throwing his body to the side, straight into the path of a vibroblade that struck at him, flashing downwards in the light, gleaming with a deadly, greedy, glint.

Lax used his momentum, rolling out of the path of the vibroblade and crashing into its wielder, sending them both hurtling into an energy pylon. Sparks scattered around them, sizzling dangerously in the air as his attacked had the air knocked out of them. He utilised the short respite this granted him to its fullest.

Cutting off the power to his jetpack, making him hover and not rush forward, he grasped his attacker’s helmet with one hand, another Mandalorian helmet but green instead of blue. He then immediately turned his jetpack to full power, sending them hurtling away from the energy pylon. He grasped their utility belt with the other, his fingers digging around it.

He spun around, the jetpack augmenting his turning speed, till his surroundings were only a blur. However, the Force aided him, feeding him signals, as the holocron had taught him. He knew exactly where the other attacker was, the shooter, and he would use that fully to his advantage.

He continued spinning, the force of the spinning straining his arms, making it hard to hold on, but he continued increasing the speed, waiting till he could finally release.

And release he did. With a loud grunt he released the green Mandalorian, however part of the belt broke off in his grip as the Mandalorian flew off, straight into his shocked friend, again a Mandalorian, who was training his blaster on them, waiting for a clear shot. Before he could react, he was hit by his friend at a high speed, which blasted them both against an energy pylon. With a loud bang the second Mandalorian’s jetpack burst into flames, enveloping them with a wreath of flames.

Lax stabilised himself, stopping the endless spinning, hovering in the air. He watched silently as they fell into the darkness of Coruscant’s underground through one of the exhaust vents that littered the power sector, a place where very few beings survived. The flames illuminated the darkness that shrouded the falling pair, a single speck of light in the black darkness of the bottom of Coruscant. Till, finally… they disappeared.

Opening his hand, he saw a container marked with a weird insignia. It was of two suns sitting on the side of a hulking, spiked behemoth. Lax didn’t recognise the species or the insignia. But he knew someone who did, or at least someone who he hoped knew it.

His attention was attracted by the P5 beeping out from the pocket it had found refuge in while Lax had flown about. Its head stared innocently up at Lax, as if looking for some sort of congratulations for what it had done.

“You kriffing droid!” Lax shouted, flicking his finger at the droid’s big head, before hissing out another curse as his finger throbbed from pain, “I can’t believe you thought it was a good idea to crash the speeder. What made you think it was a good idea.”

P5 didn’t reply, he was still looking at Lax with an earnest gaze, waiting.

Did you even hear anything I just said?” Lax asked, exasperated, “I don’t even know why I try.”

Ignoring the maintenance droid, Lax flew away, all he had to do now was find the source of the symbol, then he could deal with them. However, he also had to head to Despayre and see if he could find his mother. This was the first concrete lead he had had on his mother for years, all trace of her disappearing after… Nar Shadaa.

Lax grimaced at the memory of that place. It reeked with filth and criminals; every single type of criminal could be found there. It was their haven, and a while ago Lax had had a misunderstanding with one of their leaders. The resulting… fight hadn’t been pleasant and the memory of it was still carried with Lax to this day. Both mentally and physically.

Tracing the dual scars that rested on his cheeks, the one on his right cheek from Nar Shadaa, the unwelcome present of a rather eager bounty hunter and the one on the left from someone who Lax would never forget. Inflier Grievious.

The Kaleesh that had changed his life. Before Inflier, Lax had been a normal slave, working day in and out. But after his attack, after Lax had killed him- his life had changed. He had been able to escape from Tatooine, free his brother and allow him to become a Jedi. Lax had gone through one of the most amazing adventures he had ever heard of. He had found a holocron to become a Jedi and he had met Padmé.

But for now, he discarded that train of thought as he looked ahead as he sighted his destination, a gleaming temple that radiated with peace and seemed impossibly old, almost older than the planet itself. It lay on a large raised area, looking over the rest of Coruscant like a silent guardian, a protector. Pillars lined the gleaming front side, towering in the sky, over the many fountains that littered the front plaza and sunlight glinting off its beautiful murals.

The Jedi Temple.

Lax had been here before, visiting Anakin, and he loved the aura that covered the outside of the temple. It felt like the Force It reassured him, warmed him. When looking at the temple all his worries seemed to melt away, carried far off with the wind.

Landing in front of the huge palace, Lax shrugged off the jetpack, slinging it to rest against a nearby fountain. He didn’t need it anymore and it was heavy. So, best that he donate it to the hardworking residents of Coruscant.

“Skywalker.” A clipped voice sounded from in front of him. Looking up, Lax grinned at the sight of a frowning Mace Windu standing in front of him with his arms crossed into his sleeves, “I see you still love treating the temple as your home.”

Grinning, Lax walked up to the bald Jedi, “I’m only donating to a hard-working resident of Coruscant. Imagine how happy they would be when they found a jetpack that they could take home.”

Windu stared at him, unimpressed, “You know very well that no one walks here except Jedi and droids.”

“So, I see you count me among the Jedi then.” Lax remarked, seizing the golden opportunity.

Windu’s frown impossibly turned worse as he turned around and walked back to the temple, “You are not a Jedi, Skywalker. We should have confiscated that holocron when we had the chance.”

Lax followed Windu, still grinning wildly, this may be his favourite part of coming to his temple, “But then I wouldn’t be able to use the Force to help me in Sabacc. As a good Jedi I believe that it is my duty to relieve all evil doers of their ill-begotten wealth. I’m only doing what you would do.”

“Stop talking like that Skywalker, it doesn’t suit you.” Windu said, forcing his frowning face to an impassive one as they walked through the pillars, “And playing Sabacc goes against the code of a Jedi, therefore you are not a Jedi. And I believe that you should not be one to speak of ‘ill begotten wealth’.”

Lax laughed, “Still the same answer as before.” They walked through the large doors into the humungous hall, “Now, do you know where Anakin is?”

“Padawan Skywalker is currently somewhere in the temple.” Windu replied, before walking off, “I trust that as a self-proclaimed ‘Jedi’, you can find him easily without my help.”

Lax watched Windu walk away, mouth open in shock, “Wow.”

Recovering from his shock, Lax shook his head deciding that looking for Anakin should be his main priority for now. However, Lax had a trick up his sleeve, one Windu didn’t know about, when looking for Anakin- always check the kitchen.

Heading off to Anakin’s living quarters, Lax drank in the calm surroundings. It was so different here, nothing like the rest of Coruscant, especially not where Lax usually was when he came here. But… Lax didn’t know if he would live here. It felt too calm, too peaceful. Since he had been born, violence had surrounded him. It was almost as if it was a part of his life.

He had thought that when the day came that he would get his freedom, the day that he and his family could decide their own fate. Then, he could let go of that part of his life. But now-now he had to travel the edges of the known galaxy, looking for his mother.

His thoughts disappeared from his mind as he rounded a corner and the door to Anakin’s rooms appeared before him. It was bare, only the names Kenobi-Skywalker adorning it, keeping with normal Jedi behaviour of ignoring decoration.

One that Lax knew Anakin didn’t follow at all.

Knocking on the door, he smiled as he heard a person trip while they were coming to open the door. Somehow, it happened every time Lax visited.

As the door opened, Lax smirked, “You know.” He started, “For all your vaunted Jedi grace, I don’t see much evidence of that.”

“Lax! It’s great to see you” Anakin said smiling, his blue eyes shining through his blond hair, reaching forward to grab him in a hug, Lax was inwardly annoyed as he realised an important fact-he was now officially shorter than Anakin, “Maybe I just want don’t want to waste my glorious grace on you.”

“Glorious?” Lax asked, raising an eyebrow, “Using big words now are we, little brother?”

“Only after much effort on my part.” A voice said from behind Anakin. Lax looked over his brother’s shoulder-who once again had grown annoyingly tall- to see Obi-Wan leaning against the side of his bedroom door, dressed in the dark-brown Jedi robe, watching them with a fond smile gracing his features.

“I’m sure.” Lax agreed as he walked into the room, walking to shake Obi-Wan’s hand, “I know how long it takes to teach him anything. I remember when he was just a kid and he ha- “

“Done nothing!” Anakin cut in, cheeks flushed, stopping Lax in his tracks, “Just a false memory caused by your old age. I think the paranoia from your day job is affecting you, sand storming your memory.”

“Old age?” Obi-Wan repeated, amusement dancing in his eyes, “If Lax is old, then what am I?”

“Ancient, Master.” Anakin answered without pause, “I thought you knew?”

“Oh yes.” Obi-Wan said, smirking as his eyes flashed, “Its only that my old brain forgot about it. But now I remember it, just like I remember we planned some extra lessons for tomorrow- the ones involving a data pad.”

“That may be true Master, but my _young _mind clearly remembers you promising that I would get a free day the next time- and I quote Master Windu, who was there when you said it, ‘that sly, annoying, just barely not a Dark Jedi’ came here

“He said that about me?” Lax questioned, confused, “Doesn’t that mean he sees me as a possible Jedi if I can qualify as a Dark Jedi?”

“How many times must I tell you that you are no Jedi, Skywalker.” Master Windu’s voice growled from the door, “And Padawan, I believe you forgot to add delusional to that list.”

“Master Windu?” Obi-Wan said in surprise, “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“The council has a task for you.” Master Windu replied, “I decided to come tell you personally.”

“Is it serious?” Obi-Wan asked, confused, “I thought we were off-duty for a week after we returned.”

“You were.” Windu replied, “However, Master Yoda decided you two are the most suitable for this task.”

“But Master,” Anakin protested, “Lax just came bac- “

“I am aware that your brother is once again gracing us with his unwanted presence Padawan.” Windu said distastefully, “But I believe that your duties as a Jedi take priority over your brother, do you not think so?”

“Yes Master.” Anakin said, shrinking backwards slightly at the rebuke, “I do.”

Lax cut in, “Then I’ll just come with you to the council chamber, won’t you allow that Master Windu?”

“There is no need to go to the council chamber.” Windu replied, “And I think that they will be able to complete their task better without you Skywalker.”

“And what are we supposed to do Master Windu?” Obi-Wan cut in, diverting Windu’s attention away from Lax.

“Protect someone.” Windu replied, shifting his eyes to Obi-Wan, ignoring Lax, “Specifically, Senator Padmé Amidala.”

The name hit Lax out of nowhere. It had been years since he had seen Padmé, back when she was still Queen. Since then, they had both been busy, her with her senatorial work and him with searching for his mother and… peacekeeping. But he had hoped to see her again soon, it had been too long. And now he had a chance.

“Then I’ll come with you.” Lax stated, seizing the opportunity, before continuing to cut off Windu’s forming protest, “I’m good friends with Padmé, this is only a friendly visit and I just so happened to take the same route as Anakin and Obi-Wan.”

“Yes,” Anakin grinned, butting in, “And as a Jedi we should do our best to help others, and I believe that offering Lax a ride is fulfilling our duty to the galaxy.”

Windu looked at them both with a raised eyebrow, looking unimpressed, he opened his mouth to say something, before hesitating as he looked at Lax and the grinning Anakin. Finally, he sighed, closing his mouth and giving his assent with a nod.

“Great.” Lax said, clapping his hands, excited to see Padmé again, “Then let’s go.”

“Wait.” Anakin laughed before quickly disappearing into his room. He exited a few seconds later, wearing his brown Jedi robe, “Now we can go.”

Together, they left the apartment, splitting into two groups as they walked, Anakin and Lax walking in front, while the older Jedi were behind them.

“So, how was your trip.” Anakin asked, “Did you find any trace of her?” His voice still glowed with confidence; confidence that Lax would succeed in his search, no matter what his answer was.

“Yip.”

“You’ll find her one… day.” Anakin started, before trailing off as the words sunk in, “What!” He shouted as his head whipped to the side, eyes blazing with fiery hope and joy as he stared at Lax, “You found something!”

Lax grinned, happy as well, “More like heard something. I caught a Nautolan today, she told me where Mom is, but she died straight after. Apparently Mom is in Despayre”

“Despayre?” Anakin recoiled, frowning at the news, “That hell-hole? Are you sure? There’s no reason to take a sla- Mom there.” He quickly switched his words throughout, like Lax unwilling to think of their mother like that.

“I don’t know.” Lax said, his eyes darkening as well at the thought of their mother being stuck there, “Although I don’t know if I can trust the source.”

“You think the Nautolan may have lied?” Anakin asked, thinking deeply about their dilemma.

Lax sighed, “Maybe.”

“But you’ll still check.”

“But I’ll still check.” Lax affirmed, knowing that leaving this lead, the first plausible lead he had in a while, would haunt him forever. Especially, if it was true.

“Good.” Anakin said, “But how are you going to get in. Despayre will be hard, especially for someone of your line of work.”

Frowning, Lax replied, “I don’t know. But I’ll do anything to get Mom back. You know that.”

“I do.” Anakin agreed, “That’s how I know you can do this. How I know you will bring Mom back one day, safe and sound. Then we can be a complete family once again.”

“Once again.” Lax echoed, his thoughts wandering as he thought about how he would get to Despayre. But he knew, that if his mother was there, then he was only a few days away from rescuing her. From saving her from her horrible life.

Their conversation was cut off as they exited the temple’s inside, appearing in one of the hangars that dotted the monolithic building. Speeders lined the wall, ready to move at a moments notice. Lax followed Anakin to his speeder-which he shared with Obi-Wan.

He stopped, standing next to the speeder, watching as Windu spoke with Obi-Wan once more, before peeling off, walking away from them as Obi-Wan approached them.

“What were you talking about?” Lax asked, settling in the front, next to Anakin, who started the speeder as soon as Obi-Wan sat down.

“What we’re supposed to do today.” Oni-Wan replied, “It’s simple enough. Senator Amidala is landing today, and as the leader of the opposition to the Creation of the Galactic Clone Army Bill, she’ll be a prime target. Rival senators, weapon contractors, bounty hunters. All of them will be out to get her.”

“So, they’re sending us to protect her, to ensure that she is able to vote and argue her case.” Anakin said, understanding already.

Lax snorted, “As if she needs any protection. I think you guys should protect the other senators instead. She’ll destroy them if they try to act on her.”

“I’m aware of that.” Obi-Wan grinned, “But the council isn’t. And with us there we can at least act as a deterrent.”

“Although if you want, I can swap places with you.” Anakin smirked at Lax, “I’m sure you’ll enjoy watching over Padmé more than me.”

Lax swatted at his brother’s head, “Trying to be smart Pipsqueak.”

“Says, the shorter one.” Anakin snorted, “And stop trying to change the conversation, because you’re really bad at it.”

“I was not switching topics.” Lax protested, “And I can tell you that I am well versed at that, I do it with targets all the time. So, my first-hand experience at the excellence of my topic switching skills trumps your statement.”

Anakin whistled, “All of that just to argue that you definitely aren’t switching topics? A clear sign of how far you’ve fallen.”

“Not as far as you’ll fall when I push you off this speeder.” Lax threatened, ignoring his brother’s smug smirk.

Obi-Wan cut in, “I believe that the time for pushing Anakin off the speeder will have to come later. We’ve arrived. Luckily, the landing pad is close.”

Looking forward, Lax caught sight of an empty landing pad, well three landing pads, one big and two small ones, “When is she getting here?”

“Soon.” Obi-Wan answered, before pointing at a spot, “Stop there Anakin.”

Anakin nodded, his padawan braid swinging in the wind as he pushed forward, sending the speeder in a dive.

“And at a slower speed, my young padawan.” Obi-Wan continued, grimacing.

“Yes master.” Anakin laughed, slowing down and stopping next to the landing pad. Clambering out, Lax stretched his legs, peeking up at the speeder-filled skies in search of Padmé’s ship.

“Is she coming with any protection?” Lax asked, righting his lightsaber on his hip, “Guards?”

“Guards and accompanying fighters.” Obi-Wan answered, leaning against a nearby supply crate as they waited, “Specifically, those ones.” He pointed up at the sky.

Following his finger, three ships appeared in his vision. The biggest was a ship he had seen before, at Naboo. A gleaming silver ship shined as it swam through the air, its wings gracefully guiding it to the landing pad.

To the side of it, two small fighters followed it, barring any potential attack from the surrounding ships and speeders. They were standard Naboo fighters, coloured yellow with a silver front.

Lax and the pair of Jedi watched silently as the trio of ships approached and landed, their landing gears hissing out from under them and settling on the floor.

“Well let’s go.” Obi-Wan said, walking forward as the big ship’s door hissed open and the ramp descended. Lax watched excitedly as people started leaving the ship. First, it was guards, dressed in the uniform of the Naboo Planetary Guard, then slowly descending, dressed in a white dress, her hair made up in an elaborate braid that folded over itself, it was… not Padmé.

Lax frowned when he saw the person, she looked like Padmé, dressed like a senator from Naboo would, but it wasn’t Padmé. He just knew that it wasn’t her, felt that it wasn’t her. Likely a decoy. But…

“If she isn’t here.” Lax muttered, looking to the fighters, feeling a familiar presence there, “Then she must be…”

The words died in his throat as behind one of the fighters he spotted a flying person clad in armour, blue armour, or more specifically, blue Mandalorian armour that he had seen only an hour or two ago.

“Watch out!” Lax shouted, the Force warning him, drawing the attention of the milling guards and decoy, “Behind you!”

**Booom**

Lax was flung backwards by the force of the explosion that rocked the landing pad. The ship exploded into small pieces, engulfed by a ball of fire, which lashed out at the surrounding people. Only a few short shouts could be heard before they stopped, abruptly.

Lax hit the floor hard, but he was back on his feet in a second, the Force filling him as his heart raced, supplying his body with power and energy. Next to him, Anakin and Obi-Wan also jumped to their feet, drawing their lightsabers and igniting it with the hiss of deadly plasma.

Drawing his on lightsaber, the blue blade burst to life as he thumbed the small bump on the side. He raced forward, rushing towards the flaming remains of the ship as the two pilots of the fighters ran their as well.

Lax’s eyes locked onto the smaller of two, a woman, as she ran through the wreckage. Instantly, he knew who it was. Padmé! He didn’t even need to see her face; he just knew it was her. But just as he was about to reach her, the Force screamed at him, warning him!

Seamlessly, Lax swung his lightsaber upwards, blocking the attack of a green armoured bounty hunter. He thrust his hand up at the jetpack wearing bounty hunter, pushing the Force outwards to blast the bounty hunter backwards, sending him whirling over the edge of the landing pad.

Swivelling around, he blocked another attack from a brown armoured bounty hunter, only to sense an attack racing at him from behind. Lax swung himself around, lifting his foot as he met the sparkling electric staff with his lightsaber. At the same time, his foot crashed into his green, taken aback attacker, sending them whirling into the air.

‘Thank you Master Ystralla’ Lax thought as he landed, backpedalling away to escape the returning swing from the brown armoured Mandalorian. He raised his lightsaber, swinging it down in a crushing blow on his attacker.

The Mandalorian dodged sideways, taking the opportunity to swing at Lax’s flank. Lax jumped up, higher than humanely possible, flipping forwards to land behind the Mandalorian. He acted swiftly, crouching as he swung his lightsaber at the Mandalorian’s legs.

Burning flesh filled Lax’s nostrils as he amputated the Mandalorian, cutting off both his legs, before whipping his lightsaber upwards inhumanely fast, straight through his opponent’s falling body.

Four thuds sounded through the air as the pieces of the Mandalorian fell to the floor, his flesh sizzling as no blood escaped his body. Lax whirled around, catching sight of Obi-Wan forcing his opponent to their knees.

Sprinting towards the wreckage, Lax’s heart skipped as he sighted three bodies on the floor, two armoured Mandalorians, the other… one of the pilots. No one else was there.

Sliding to a stop, Lax kneeled next to the fallen pilot, heart sinking at the sight of a black knife sticking out of their chest. It wasn’t Padmé. That he was sure of, but then where was she!?

“Help… her.” A voice coughed, the pilot’s, “Help… her.”

Lax gently took of the pilot’s helmet, revealing a dark-skinned human, with blood bubbling out of his lips, “What happened to her?”

The pilot coughed again, blood flying out of his mouth, he lifted his hand, straining, pointing to the side. Looking at where he was pointing, Lax was struck by how similar this was to before. A figure, encased in blue armour darted through the traffic, but, now, in her arms, she was carrying a limp person, dressed in a fighter pilot uniform.

Padmé.

**There, hope you enjoyed. The plot for ATC is finally figured out. I know where I’m going. So, it should be quicker to update next time. Just be warned, Padmé will have a few POV’s in the beginning.**

**Review if thou wish, I listen to any advice you guys have.**

**Thank you and**

  
**さようなら**


	13. Ch 13

**Hey, so its been a while. Sorry that it took so long, I just lost all motivation to write for a few months. But I feel more inspired now, so I should be quicker than before.**

_Italics- _Huttese

**Hope you enjoy,**

Padmé woke to the sight of… black.

Black tiles lining what could only be the roof. Black cloth scattered all over it. Black hair falling into her eyes. Black eyes staring straight at her.

Slowly, casually, Padmé blinked, breaking the impromptu staring contest. The black eyes stayed open, retreating away and stopping just metres away. It was a human. An old woman. Her eyes were pure black, her air ash-white, crazily strewn everywhere.

“Who are you?” Padmé asked, wincing at how rough her voice sounded. The old woman ignored her, unblinking eyes turning away as she scooped an injector from the worn table next to her.

“Who are you?” Padmé repeated, struggling to sit up. She was a on a hard, black, metal bed, like the ones they used in Naboo’s infirmary. But Padmé recognised nothing else in the black room, “Where are we?”

Once again, she was ignored as the old woman slowly dripped a green liquid into the injector. Bacta. Turning, the old woman strode to Padmé’s side, grasping her left arm. Padmé gasped as soon as she saw her arm, her inside curling slightly at what she must have looked like before she was healed. It was covered in rags, bloody, filthy rags, a hint to the state it had been in before.

With a surprising amount of strength, the old woman speared her arm with the injector, making Padmé gasp at the sudden burst of pain. But her gasp quickly died down as the bacta entered her bloodstream, spreading a warm feeling throughout her body.

“Thank you.” Padmé said, as the woman pulled out the injector turning to place it on the nearby table.

The woman turned to her, settling her unblinking stare on the young senator. Then, silently, she raised her hand, her finger pointing to a door.

Padmé looked at her dead expression, seeing no joking tone present in her face. So, wordlessly, she slid off the bed, hissing slightly when her hurt arm jostled slightly. The bacta hadn’t completely done its magic yet. However, she quickly muted the hiss, setting her face into an expression of stone.

Then, she strode towards the exit, sparing the old woman a glance. The woman watched her go, black eyes following her trail emotionlessly, before swiftly turning around to her table, filled with instruments, dismissing Padmé’s presence.

Opening the door, she was met with a large market, shrouded in a dark shadow. All manner of species thronged around the market, slightly illuminated by light seeping in through cracks in the… roof? Almost immediately she realised she was underground. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, small stones dotting the sides and bursting with light. They seemed to be flickering slightly, causing the shadow to come to life, jumping around with an endless vigour.

_“I see you are awake.” _A voice drawled, _“Just like humans, to take sooo long. To be so weak.”_

Turning, Padmé sighted a tall humanoid with three eyes protruding out of its face, all settled on Padmé. The alien was pulling a disgusted face as it stared at her, the obvious distaste for her flickering through its eyes. A Gran.

Padmé narrowed her eyes, questions and thoughts flashing through her mind. Who was this Gran? Why were they waiting for her?

“Did you say something?” Padmé replied politely, deciding not to reply in Huttese, which she had learned a while back. Always useful to know what the opposition was saying, especially if nobody knew she could speak it.

The Gran frowned, his mouth wrinkling in disgust, “I said that it is good that you are awake human. I have been waiting here for too long.”

“Really?” Padmé retorted, “And what would you want with me?”

“Only that you come with me, _kliraa_.”

“Something I see no reason I should do.”

The Gran snorted, thumbing his holstered weapon, “Please! Please continue doing this _kliraa_. I haven’t had a good excuse to shoot one of your kind in a while.”

“Shoot me?” Padmé snorted disbelievingly, “Then what will your leader say.”

“My wha- “

“Your leader.” She repeated slowly, patronisingly, “The person in charge of you. The one who ordered you to wait for me.”

“That bantha dung!?” The Gran spat, “He doesn’t control me _kliraa_. He pays me. I do not listen to anyone except myself. Which means that I would only lose a little pay if you got hurt, and who would stop me”

“Oh,” Padmé started smiling, “What about the man standing right behind you pointing a blaster at your back?”

The Gran froze, his bulbous eyes widening slightly before he whirled around, only to meet a fist heading straight to his face. With a loud thump, he hit the floor, knocked out cold.

“Sorry ‘bout that.” The unknown man laughed as he walked towards Padmé, wringing his hands, “Normally, I’d punch him ‘round the eyes, give him something to remember.”

Padmé answered with a singular elegant eyebrow slowly rising in askance, “Normally? Why not now?”

The man, who looked to be just short of two meters tall, shrugged, “He has three of th’m. Too many to choose from. It’s ‘is fault really.”

“Just like someone from your family.” Padmé smiled, “Always blaming others.”

“Well. There goes my pl’n.” The man smiled, rubbing his bald head awkwardly, “How did you know?”

“Simple.” Padmé replied breezily, “I looked at your shoulder.”

Still smiling, the man grabbed a patch of cloth of his shoulder sleeve. On it stood a distinct symbol, one that Padmé had recognised almost instantly. Three stars that rested against the backdrop of a large moon.

“I knew I forgot som’thing. Well done, Senator.”

“Thank you…?” Padmé replied searchingly, smiling with an undercurrent of pride.

“Bry Ristol. But you can call me Ristol. I prefer ‘t.” The man, Ristol replied, before saying, “Now, Senator ‘midala, I ask that you follow me if you please.”

“Of course.” Padmé replied, walking forwards to stop just next to Ristol, waiting.

Ristol grinned, the dim light reflecting off a single metal tooth just behind his curled lips, “I h’ve to say Senator. It’s good to finally have someone who doesn’t try to resist for once.”

“Resist?” Padmé snorted, “Why would anyone ever try to resist someone from your family?”

“You would be surprised Senator. Not everyone ‘round here knows about us like you.”

Padmé looked around disbelievingly, taking in the sight of dirt-covered, and some blood-covered, ducking through the numerous shadows that covered the area, blasters clipped to almost everyone’s hips or hanging from their shoulders.

Ristol noticed her gaze, “I was surprised too Senator, I thought ‘tleast a place like this would be easier to… navigate with our reputation. But it looks like we w’re a bit too subtle in our dealings before.”

“Subtle?” Padmé questioned, “You call attacking an inter-planetary meeting in broad daylight subtle?”

“It was only between Naboo and Estroya. Nobody would h’ve worried much about it. Estroya is too backwater and you _w’re_ interfering in our business operations there.” Ristol replied, “You h’ve seen our other operations though. So, you know we’re ‘lmost ‘lways different compared to then. That was ‘n special occasion.”

“True.” Padmé said, her eyes narrowing, “But do you really think that I would accept that as an excuse for trying to kill me.”

“Not kill. Merely ‘bduct you.” Ristol promised as he stepped over a corpse, Padmé choosing to skirt past it and respect the corpse’s dignity, “We don’t actively kill.”

“And be glad for that.” Padmé said strongly, “Or else it would have been your family, instead of the Gyrtes, that would have been dissolved.”

Ristol grinned, “Whatever you believe Senator. But I h’ve to say, I was impressed with how you dealt with them. It wouldn’t h’ve worked on us of course. But for them, it was perfect.”

Padmé grinned wordlessly, her mind flashing back, back to a time when she had been Queen in the last few years of her reign, older, more confident and more powerful than she had ever been. The Gyrtes had been another family, much like Ristol’s, but much less subtle and much easier to dissolve. She had never felt more alive, except for when she was with– “

Padmé shook her head. Now was not the time to think back to then. She needed to be focused, especially now that she knew Ristol was involved. She needed to find out what had happened, who had captured her and why. Although some of the answers were simple.

“Let me guess.” Ristol started, looking at her amusedly, “You’re busy wond’ring what happened. You don’t h’ve to hide it, tell me what you think happ’ned. Who do you think it was?”

“Not you.”

“’nd why not?”

“Like you said, I know how you work. You don’t kill. You know that it instantly sets a target on your back. You wouldn’t want to kill me as well. If you had wanted to you would have tried long ago. Also, I don’t think your family uses Mandalorian armour, does it?”

“No.”

“I thought not.” Padmé said, before continuing, “Also when I woke up, the old woman, she only had worn tools, she’s used them for a long time, and you wouldn’t allow me to be treated with tools like that. Pride is too important to you.”

“’greed.”

“And who and why this happened to me?” Padmé smiled, “There will be a vote on the establishment of a Grand Republic Army soon, and as one of it’s strongest opposers I would of course be targeted. That’s the very reason I used a decoy in the first place.”

Padmé then motioned behind her, in the vague direction where they had come from, “But I’m not dead and the Gran who waited for me mentioned he hadn’t killed in a while and that he was being paid. A mercenary, and one who hates humans. Therefore, someone from the Senate ordered this.”

Ristol bowed his head as they walked through the throng of people, “Well done Senator. I thought you would figure out. But do you know who exactly it was?”

Padmé thought for a moment, “Initially, I suspected Count Dooku and the Trade Federation. But it doesn’t make sense for them to want the Republic to have an army.”

“Yes.” Ristol agreed, “Doesn’t ex’ctly fit with their goals, does it? But I’m sure you’ll figure it out Senator. In time.”

“Time enough for me to return in for the vote?” Padmé enquired, although she already knew the answer.

Ristol laughed, “Course not Senator. We can’t be h’ving that. Would break the terms of contract.”

“Thought so.” Padmé muttered, before shaking her head of her gloomy thoughts, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t escape before the vote. But to do that she first had to find something out…

“Where are we going?”

“We’ll be there soon Senator.” Ristol pointed one large hand at a nearby building in front of them, “It’s that ‘ne over there.”

“Who’s waiting there?”

“The boss.”

“Really?” Padmé asked, genuinely surprised, “He’s here? I thought he never left your base.”

“He does.” Ristol replied, pushing a cloaked woman to the side as she picked something up from in front of them, “Som’times, especially for cases like this, he takes charge. Too much money ‘t stake.”

“Well then.” Padmé said, drawing herself up as they reached the building. It was simple, plascrete, with what looked like normal glass, but what was likely transparisteel. It looked completely normal, it was covered in marks of age, like all the other buildings here. No outward sign that one of the most dangerous people in the sector was in it.

“Go on in.” Ristol waved her in, “But it’s not only the boss waiting th’re for you.”

Surprised, Padmé looked at Ristol questioningly, but received no answer as he continued smiling at her, inviting her in.

Stepping through the door, she followed a short hallway covered with nothing, no personal details, into a medium sized room, furnished with a small table, a few chairs and a large couch. The walls were sparse, except for shreds of cloth that seemed to be curtains next to the windows. The roof had no cracks in it, probably because plascrete was so durable.

Her gaze was drawn to the occupants of the room. One was a middle-aged man whose legs were whirring as the salvos in them moved fluidly to carry him across the room as he prowled around casually. His hair was dark and long, covering his eyes, which were a deep, fathomless black. Ristol’s boss. This was the first time Padmé had seen him and she knew that he was not to be taken lightly.

But as she took in the appearance of his companion, who was sitting on a seat facing her, she froze in shock. She had dark brown hair, turning grey at the roots, her skin on her hands were wrinkled and home to many callouses. Her brown eyes were warm but carrying a deep sadness and… Padmé recognised them.

Seeing her invoked memories. Ones of a desert planet, of a blue-eyed boy who saved her and her planet, whose mother had been captured in the Battle of Theed.

Who Padmé was staring at in unfettered shock.

Shmi Skywalker.

**Laxis POV**

“You really have had a great string of luck recently, haven’t you Skywalker?”

Lax took in the Devarorian sitting across him. His teeth were pulled into an angry snarl, reflecting the soft light cast down on them from above. The Devarorian was leaning forward, his mean eyes glaring at Lax as his horns’ sharp edges glinted dangerously.

“Yes Wyller. Today just seems to be one of those lucky days. Everyone has them.” Lax replied casually, acting like he hadn’t noticed the increasingly growing anger and frustration of the Devarorian.

“Of course, Skywalker.” Wyller growled, “Just _one_ of those days.”

Lax smiled at Wyller winningly, “Well then. Shall we continue?” He leaned forward, seemingly eagerly; his eyes filled with a burning passion.

Wyller forced his snarl down, smiling thinly instead, although anger still filled his eyes. “Of course.”

The Devarorian turned to the waiting Twi’lek, “Deal the cards.”

Smiling, Lax settled back into the high-backed chair, watching his cards as they were dealt to him one on one. He had been here for a while, playing sabacc. Many others had started the game with them. Around ten in total. All except Lax and Wyller.

The rest had all been cleaned out, and most were sitting at the nearby bar, drinking their sorrows away as they realised, they had wasted thousands of credits. Most were bad, some were good, one was brilliant at the game and would have won. If it wasn’t for Lax and Wyller.

Lax knew Wyller was cheating. No smart club owner started a sabacc table without ensuring they had the highest chance of winning. Lax didn’t fully know how, but even so, Lax couldn’t fault Wyller too much. Especially as he was cheating as well.

The Force was a very useful tool in sabacc Lax had found. It allowed him to pick the stray thoughts and emotions of his opponents, retrieving information that nobody was aware they were giving. Lax didn’t invade their privacy, just skimmed their minds at the barest level. He had used this trick often, mostly as a way to gain money so that he could repair or upgrade his ship, usually repair, and only from criminals and gang bosses, no one else. But sometimes, sabacc was a very useful way to gain information.

Such as now.

“So Wyller,” Lax began as he picked up anxious thoughts from his opponent, “What do you say to increasing the stakes a little?”

Wyller looked up from his cards, his gaze instantly fixed on Lax, “Raise the stakes? How?”

Lax put down his cards, confidence oozing from his body, “Why don’t you do something for me if I win and I give you all my winnings if you win.”

“What would you want me to do?” Came the immediate response.

“Just identification of a crest and information about them.”

Wyller looked at Lax searchingly, looking for the slightest hint of the trick. Lax could feel the Devarorian’s thoughts whirling as he pondered on what to do. Lax smiled inwardly as he felt Wyller start to radiate confidence and victory.

“Why not?” Wyller shrugged, grinning normally now, although it still looked nightmare-inducing. “A simple favour is something I can handle.”

“Good.” Lax smiled, “Then I believe it’s time we reveal our cards. I’ll start.”

With a flourish, Lax overturned his cards, at the same time he waved his hand, sending out the Force, “21.”

Wyller smiled victoriously, “Close Skywalker. But not close enough.”

Confidently, the Devarorian slammed his cards down triumphantly, “Twenty… three?”

A confused tone entered his voice as he looked down at his cards, confused at what he was seeing. Instead of the perfect score he thought he would get, a nine and a five greeted him, “How?”

Lax smiled, satisfied, standing up to sweep the pot closer to him, “Good game Wyller. You almost had me with that bluff.”

“…Yes.” Wyller forced out, “A _very_ unlucky hand for me.

“Yip. Now, I believe its time I call in that favour.” Lax responded, as he drew a piece of a belt from his pocket. On which the crest of his attackers and Padmé’s kidnappers rested, the twin suns staring at Lax menacingly.

Wyller grabbed the piece of belt, frustration radiating out of him, muttering to himself about kriffing engineers and what not.

Lax waited eagerly as Wyller studied the piece of belt. Wyller was well known in the area, both for being the leader of the local gang and for having seemingly limitless knowledge about the events and people in the galaxy.

But his price was high, not what Lax could afford to gather as time was precious. He had to find out where Padmé was, so that he could help Obi-Wan and Anakin find her. Speaking of his little brother, Anakin was currently sitting uncomfortably in one of the chairs at the nearby bar, holding onto his drink tightly. Lax grinned at the sight, enjoying his little brother’s discomfort. Lax had decided Anakin should accompany him on this trip, see what Lax’s world was, or help Lax in case – “

“I’m done.” Wyller cut in, throwing the belt piece at Lax and sitting down in his seat, “It’s the crest of a group of thieves and pirates that have risen in Outer Rim. They’ve been active four a few years and all their members wear Mandalorian armour. They are led by a woman in blue Mandalorian armour.”

“And their base?” Lax questioned, hopeful.

“Despayre.”

Lax’s mind shook at the name. Again, he was greeted with the name of Despayre. Wyller was saying that Padmé was likely on Despayre and he had been told that his mother was as well. But why would both be there?

“There.” Wyller growled, “I have fulfilled my debt. Now, if you please, can you leave me to drown my sorrows away.”

“Or why don’t you just get back your money.” A voice cut in from the nearby doorway.

Together, Wyller and Lax looked at the newcomer and Lax’s smile dropped immediately. A blonde woman was glaring at him, her one startling blue eye accompanied by the red of her robot one. The red glow seemed to intensify when their gazes met and Lax felt the anger bubbling within her. Lax had thought she was dead. But of course, she would be here, interfering in his life.

Wyller snorted, “Leave. You know my reputation would be damaged if I did that.”

“Not if Skywalker was cheating, or you can easily assume he was cheating. Which gives you right to your money back.

In an instant Wyller had drawn his blaster from where he sat, pointing it straight at Lax. On his face a twisted smile grew wider and wider as he looked at the woman, “How?”

“You see.” The woman started, “I’ve met Skywalker before, on Nar Shaddaa, and we found out that he isn’t a normal human.”

Her smile grew rapidly, matching Wyller’s, “But a force user.”

Lax reacted instantly, using the Force to push the hidden card dispenser from under the table and Wyller’s stomach. Groaning, Wyller doubled over, holding his stomach tightly as his teeth gritted in pain.

Activating his lightsaber, Lax swung the blade in a tight arc, deflecting the shots from the nearby guards and individuals who seemed to want some easy money. He broke out into a run, spying Anakin jumping into a nearby group of guards, his lightsaber flashing as it deflected blaster bolts cut through vibroblades with ease.

Ahead, Lax saw the blonde woman still smiling, drawing three spheres from her belt. In a flash she had thrown them towards Lax.

Lax hastily used the Force to push himself away as the Force screamed at him to move. But it was just too late. The spheres exploded into a sea of flames carrying with it the concussive force of a herd of rampaging banthas.

Lax was thrown backwards, spinning around in the air, by the force of the explosion. Twisting around frantically, he managed to catch a glimpse of a pair of wide, fear-filled eyes before he crashed into their owner.

Groaning, Lax picked himself up from the floor as quickly as he could. He frowned when he realised, he had lost his lightsaber in his impromptu flight.

“Looking for this?” The woman crowed victoriously, drawing Lax’s gaze to his lightsaber clutched in her grip… and to the blaster pointing straight at him with her finger pressing down slightly on the trigger.

“Nope, Viki.” Lax quipped, “Just for something to drink.”

With the Force filling him, he raised his arms up, stepping to the side to dodge a blaster bolt, warmth flowing through them. Behind him, tens of bottles rose from the bar, flying upwards into the air as if corralled to a string.

He smiled towards her, her blaster slack in her grip, “Here, let me get you some.”

With a thundering roar, he thrust his arms forward, strength coursing through his veins, filling his body, crackling in the air. The bottles flew forward straight towards the wide-eyed Viki. The sound of shattering glass rang through the room as the bottles hit Viki, sending shards of glass everywhere, drawing thin lines of blood and covering her with alcohol.

Viki’s unconscious body hit the floor, blood oozing from hundreds of tiny cuts that littered her body. Wincing, Lax walked towards her, the remaining bottles floating in the air. Just as he was about to crouch down and grab his lightsaber, the Force screamed at him about incoming danger.

Turning around so fast that he seemed to blur, instinct overcame him as he swung his hand to the side, commanding a bottle to fly in the path of a blaster bolt. Lax blinked, not fully expecting that to work.

Grinning at his newfound discovery, Lax turned to look at the offending shooter. Only to see him getting clubbed over the hilt of a lightsaber.

Anakin motioned to the bottles still flying in the air, smirking, “Seems a bit of a waste doesn’t it?”

“Only a bit.” Lax shrugged, “It’s fun mostly.”

“Well then.” Anakin started, motioning to the door, “Can we go?”

“Yip pipsqueak.”

Lax caught the incoming bottle as it flew at his face, shaking his head, “Now, now. Anakin. You know better than to attack your older and better brother.”

“Inferior brother you mean?” Anakin retorted, already heading to the doorway. Lax picked up his lightsaber and followed him.

“Inferior now? Is this because you’re still jealous that I beat you in the race last time.”

“_Beat _me?!” Anakin’s strangled reply came, “As if you could beat me. I just decided to let you feel better about yourself by _letting_ you win.”

“You sure about that?” Lax needled, “There’s not a single thing I wouldn’t beat you in.”

“I’m free anytime.” Anakin challenged, “Any time, any… place.”

His brother’s voice faded out as he stood motionless just beyond the doorway, mouth wide open as he gaped at what he was seeing.

An action that Lax soon mirrored as he saw what was beyond the doorway. The room beyond it was larger than before, much more. The flashing neon lights strobed the surroundings, washing the walls, and the nine people carrying vibroblades and blaster currently waiting for them, in a constantly changing array of light.

Then, slowly, Lax’s head turned to meet his brothers gaze and identical smirks grew on their faces. La felt the adrenaline of a challenge rushing through him, his heart was beating faster, pumping blood alongside the Force that rushed through his body.

“No lightsabers.” Lax said.

“No cheating.” Anakin retorted.

“Then…” Lax started, “**Begin!!!!”**

La bounded forward, thrusting one hand forward, sending bottles flying forwards straight into the bolts and faces of his opponents. He and Anakin reached them quickly. Lax jumped into the air, summoning one of his bottles as he did so. Twisting in the air as he caught it, he bought it down with a furious momentum, sending it crashing straight in between the thug’s eyes.

Then summoning two more bottles, he whirled around, away from the crumpling thug and smashing one of his bottles against the side of an approaching vibroblade. With glass shards flying across him, he swept his hand upwards, pushing the owner upwards to crash against the roof. As he fell, Lax jumped in the air, sending a sharp kick into his opponents’ midriff.

Lax ducked to the side, hearing the whistling of a vibroblade move past his head. Flicking his finger, he dove a bottle straight into his attacker’s knee, causing it to crumple. Lax rose to meet the falling thug. Grabbing him by the shoulders, Lax swept him over his hip, falling with the thug to spear his elbow into the other’s chest.

Only for another thug to fall onto him, the Force warning him too late. Lax’s breath was knocked out as he looked for what had happened. His eyes narrowed as he saw Anakin’s laughing face send a mocking glance at Lax, before turning to deal with his own blaster-wielding thug.

Suddenly, Lax’s vision was filled with the sight of a black-toothed human grinning widely as he towered over Lax. Triumphantly, the thug struck his vibroblade down, hitting Lax’s head… Or at least it would have. Lax gripped the man’s legs, pulling them forwards, causing him to fall over backwards. With a sickening crunch, his head hit the floor, and his eyes flared open, pain emanating from them as a large groan escaped from his mouth.

Lax pushed off the unconscious criminal lying on top of him, jumping quickly to his feet. Across the room, Anakin had finished dealing with another man, sending him crashing over chairs and tables.

Quickly, Lax counted the amount of unconscious bodies on the floor that he hadn’t deposited there. One, two, three… four. The same number as Lax.

Both Anakin and Lax ran towards the last thug, who was frantically backpedalling, unwilling to join his companion’s fates. The man tripped over, falling onto a nearby chair, from his reckless retreat.

Lax inwardly cursed as he noticed Anakin was closer than him, already jumping towards the man. He couldn’t let his little brother win this. He would never hear the end of it. His mind raced as he searched for an answer to his problem. He smiled when he noticed the perfect opportunity.

Gripping the chair, the thug was on, he tugged at it fiercely, sending it flying. Together, the man and the chair crashed into Anakin, sending all three flying in separate directions. Lax sprinted to his target, who was lying half-crumpled against the wall, aware that Anakin would soon recover from his fall.

Lunging forward, he grabbed onto the thug, who was now standing up slightly. With a herculean effort he swung the thug around, sending him flying straight into Anakin. Once again, his brother fell to the floor, this time the thug lying on top of him, unconscious.

“Well, well pipsqueak.” Lax grinned gleefully, “How the tables have turned.”

Anakin groaned, “I hate you Lax. I really do.”

“Hate is the path to the dark side little brother.” Lax admonished jokingly, “I believe this warrants extra lessons with Obi-Wan.”

“Or with Master Windu.” Anakin grumbled, “Then I could be with someone who _dislikes_ you even more than me.”

“Ah, I know you love me Ani.” Lax smiled, stretching out his hand for Anakin to grab, “And none of that stuff you normally try.”

“Me?” Anakin protested innocently, grinning, as he grabbed Lax’s hand, “What do I ever do?”

“You know well what you do.” Lax answered, “Now come on let’s go. We don’t want to get caught by the Security Forces here.”

“You know, technically, I am one of them.” Anakin said as they walked to the door, “I could arrest you if I wanted too.”

“And risk this getting found out by Obi-Wan.” Lax responded with a raised eyebrow, “He would hold this above you for a long time.”

“I know.”

“Also,” Lax began, his eyes gleaming with glee, “We all know you couldn’t arrest me even if you tried.”

“Yip. Can’t have it get out that the Jedi are arresting old people so easily.” Anakin shrugged off the challenge easily, “Master Yoda would be mortified. Master Windu too."

Lax laughed, “I would love to see that.”

“Me too.” Anakin agreed, “It would almost make it worth what trouble we went through to get this info.” He paused, glancing at Lax hopefully, “You did get the info, right?”

“Of course, pipsqueak.” Lax said, clapping his brother’s shoulder, “I found out where she most likely is and who took her.”

“Good.” Anakin sighed, relief evident in his tone, “Where is she then?”

“Something that I and the council would like to know as well.” An amused voice spoke from the side. An amused and very familiar voice. The owner who Lax wanted to avoid the most right now.

Gulping, Lax faced Obi-Wan, who stood just to side, observing them with amused eyes as he attempted to settle his face into a stern expression.

“Well.” Obi-Wan started, laughter leaking into his voice as he struggled to keep a straight face, “It seems that the library will have a permanent occupant after we complete the mission, won’t it my young padawan?”

Anakin sighed, slumping as the leftover energy and adrenaline drained from his body.

“Yes Master.”

“Good. Now come, the council is waiting.”

**So, I hope you enjoyed. I actually liked writing this, even though I lost motivation halfway through.**

**Review if you want. Any advice is appreciated.**

**Hyvästi**


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